Us Against the World
by StoryBookLion
Summary: Embry imprints on Leah. What is she hiding? What is he hiding? And who is trying to tear apart their happiness. Begins in new moon-ish. Very AU. ExL. Rated M for a reason. Don't read if you are underage.
1. Preface

**Hey guys,**

**so this is my first fanfic and I wanted to play around with a couple of my favourite characters who I personally thought did not get enough attention in the twilight saga. Since I'm new to this whole thing any advice, suggestions and/or thoughts are 100% welcome. Annnnnyyyyways, I hope you guys enjoy this. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight, I just like to mess around with the characters. All rights belong to SM. **

Preface

It was a rainy day in La Push. I'd been running the same circuit all day, feeling the same tracks through the land beneath my paws over and over. The sun was about to set over the ocean and the small amount of light that had managed to filter through the clouds all day was disappearing fast. Jared was due to take over patrol any second now.

Suddenly a mournful howl cut through the air followed by the chaos of 2 terrified and confused voices in my head. Voices I'd never heard in my head before.

"What the fuck Leah! You've got fur!"

"Seth! Omg dad! Someone help!"

I watched through my newly phased brother's eyes as Harry Clearwater bent over, clutching at his chest, struggling to breathe.

Another howl sounded and I felt an urgent need to get to that voice. I needed to help her! It hadn't occurred to me yet that the voice in my head was that of a female. In my panicked confusion I set off at a sprint, something inside me tugging me towards those voices in my mind.

Before I knew it I had arrived at the Clearwater's house.

The sight before me was so painful I was brought to a complete halt. Harry Clearwater was bent over, intensely staring at the 2 wolves before him. Both were small. One a sandy brown colour and the other a beautiful silver. Beautiful? What was up with me today? Since when did I describe my pack brothers as beautiful?

Harry looked each of the wolves in the eyes and solemnly gasped out "Seth, Leah, I love you. You two are my world. My biggest achievement in life. Go and find Sam Uley" the silver wolf snarled at this before Harry continued "he will help you through this. Look after your mum and your sister Seth" he turned now to stare into the silver wolf's eyes and said "Leah? Be happy princess. I love you." And then the spark disappeared from his eyes.

The sandy coloured wolf that I now knew to be Seth Clearwater turned away from his father and ran. He ran straight past me and into the forest, whimpering all the way, the sadness running through his mind was too heavy for me to comprehend and I had to shut him out. Something was pulling me towards the other Clearwater child.

The silver wolf, Leah, gave a long, low howl before turning to wrap her new body around her father while her sorrow ran around in circles through her mind.

"Please god no. Not my dad. I'll give anything. Just bring him back. Please." The thoughts were on a constant loop through her mind.

I must have stood there for a few minutes just frozen to the spot before the wolf turned her head towards me, finally noticing I was there. I caught her green eyes with my own and stumbled back a few steps.

I knew then that I would do anything to take that desperate, miserable look from her eyes. I'd be anything for her. Do anything for her. I was a goner. I had imprinted on Leah Clearwater. My alpha's ex girlfriend. He was going to tear me limb from limb but I couldn't bring myself to care.

She stared back at me, confused. She hadn't heard my feelings, being so swamped under by her own grief. I was vaguely aware of my other pack brothers phasing in and going to Seth, helping him, but I couldn't focus on that.

All I could do was walk carefully towards my beautiful silver wolf and wrap my body around hers, attempting to take her grief from her.

I don't know how long we lay that way. My imprint whimpering, wrapped around the dead body that used to belong to her father in her wolf form, me wrapped around her, but it felt like an eternity.

Finally, some time later, she was able to step away from her father's body and the pack surrounded us, taking care of her. I knew instinctively that she needed this and so I let them teach her about her new life and I hid my imprinting from the pack.

Later that night (probably closer to the next morning) when the pack had given up on Leah changing back human that night (Seth had successfully phased back a few hours earlier) and gone home to get some rest, I went out in my wolf form. I found her curled up on the forest floor. I tried to speak to her and I felt through the imprint bond that she couldn't deal with knowing about it yet. I knew she needed me to be a friend so I decided then and there that I wouldn't tell about the imprint her until she was ready. I wouldn't tell anybody.

It broke my heart to walk away from her that night but I couldn't find it in me to deny her when she ordered me away so she could deal with her grief alone.

For weeks after that night, I tried to get closer to Leah but the imprint bond told me I wasn't what she needed at the moment. Whenever I was around she couldn't help but remember me wrapped around her the night her father passed away and pain would flood through the bond.

So I distanced myself from her. I loved her. She seemed happier when I wasn't around. So I stayed away. She was happier and I was dying on the inside.

I didn't realise then that the pain would only get worse for the both of us.

* * *

**So that's the preface. I don't know if this is good or not. Please let me know what you guys think. Should I continue? Thanks again for reading xo**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: thank you everyone for your awesome reviews! I'm not really 100% sure how this story is going to get to where I'm trying to go but here's the next chap anyways. Enjoy. Review if you like (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns, not me. **

After the imprint, life went on as normal. Well, as normal as could be expected. I went to school, I ran my patrols, the only difference was I now spent my nights off patrol sitting in the forest outside the Clearwater's (in human form - i didn't want the pack finding out) listening to my imprint go about her evenings.

The more nights I spent outside Leah's house, the more I realised how much she was dealing with at home.

Every night Sue would down an entire bottle of vodka at the kitchen table. Then, when Leah walked in the door from her evening shift at the diner Sue would scream obscenities at her.

I would hear her screams from my spot in the forest.  
I was amazed none of the pack had heard it while they patrolled at night. She would yell for hours, on and on. Blaming every bad thing in her life on her daughter. Every night I had to fight with my wolf not to just burst in there and carry her far away from everything.

Leah would wait until her mother had collapsed on the table then she would carry her up to her bed and cover her with the blanket. Every night I heard Leah whisper to her mother "I know you don't mean it mom and I forgive you" then she would kiss her on the forehead and walk down the hallway to her own bedroom.

She would lie in bed for hours tossing and turning. I tried to send her soothing, happy feelings through our bond, hoping she would get some rest before she had to get up for patrol at 5am. Then, when I finally heard her breathing even out and her heart rate slow just a little signalling her state of slumber, I would go home and sleep.

Tonight, I had placed myself in my favourite tree in the forest behind Leah's house. I sat there for a couple of minutes waiting. I knew Leah was due home any second. I could see Sue at the kitchen table (as usual). She had already downed her first bottle of vodka and was moving on to the second when Leah walked through the door.

"So you finally decided to come back huh? Where have you been Leah? Trying to seduce Sam back to your arms I suppose! You can't just let Emily be happy can you? You're such a bitch! That's why your father died you know? The shame of having you as a daughter caused him to have a heart attack! It's all your fault!"

I felt Leah's pain squeeze around my heart. I was livid. I could feel my form shaking violently. Never had Sue gone so low as to blame her daughter for her husband's death.

Leah usually just waited for her mother to get too drunk to function but tonight Sue had pushed her too far. She stomped over to her mother and slapped her across the face "don't you ever disgrace my father's name by using his death like that. You are a disgusting excuse for a human being."

I was stunned. Leah usually reserved her bitchiness for the pack. I'd seen her with her family both before and after her transformation. She was never anything less than loving and caring with them. By the time I shook myself out of my shock, Leah was already out the front door.

I needed to check on her so I ran through the woods and out onto the street in the direction I know she would have gone. I wasn't paying enough attention though because I emerged closer to the house than I had thought and walked straight into Leah.

"Damn it! Watch where the fuck you're walking! Embry?"

"Uh, hey Leah. Are you ok?" I tried to sound casual and not like I had been following her. I don't think I did too well.

"What are you doing here Embry?" She glanced back towards here house, we were only about 50m away from it, "did you-" she stuttered out "you didn't hear anything coming from my place did you?" she asked me.

I ducked my head, not wanting to lie to her. She figured it out anyway.

"How much did you catch?"

"All of it. Leah you don't believe her do you?" I hoped she didn't think her dad had died because of her.

"Of course not" she shot back at me. I could feel through the bond though that she was lying.

"Your dad dying isn't your fault Lee. He had been sick for a while. He never stopped the beer. He never cleaned up his diet. His heart was in a bad way already. Don't blame yourself. He loved you. He wouldn't want that for you." I tried to comfort her with my words.

She just nodded.

We had been walking for a while and had made it to the beach. We sat together on a big piece of driftwood, her staring out at the ocean, me gazing at the beauty of her face in the moonlight.

"I have a spare bed at my place if you need somewhere to get away from it all for a while" I offered, praying to the spirits she would take me up on it. I knew we would both sleep better under the same roof and away from her mother.

She was silent for a long while. I panicked and started to think I had scared her off, been too forward with her.

"Maybe just for one night" I breathed a sigh of relief. Then she said so quietly I wasn't sure I had even heard her right "I haven't slept through an entire night in longer than I can remember" my face creased in worry.

"You wanna head back to my place now? Get an early night in? I'll even lend you a shirt to sleep in" I said to her with a smile.

"Sure" she replied as she let me help her up from the log.

We walked back to my house in silence and I revelled in simply being in her presence.

"Hey Em?" She asked as we walked up my front steps

"Yeah?"

"How come you're always nice to me? None of the other guys even remotely tolerate me. But you, you're always polite. You talk to me like you actually like me. I was just wondering why that was?"

I stopped and turned to look her in the eyes before answering.

"I like you" _more than you know_ "and you're pack. Pack is the only family I have. I treasure each and every one of my family and that includes you."

I thought I saw her face drop a little bit but then she smiled brightly at me so I let it drop and showed her to my room.

"Well, this is my room. You can crash here, I'll take the couch." I told her as I walked over to my closet. I pulled out my favourite shirt and threw it to her "you can sleep in that if you want."

She smiled at me. My heart skipped a beat and I couldn't help but thinking that was the best thing I had ever seen.

"I'll just uh head out to the couch now. You can call me if you need anything ok?" I walked toward the door.

"Hey Em? I heard and I stopped in the doorway, turning back to her with my eyebrows raised in question.

"Thanks" she uttered shyly.

"It's no problem" I smiled at her "goodnight Leah."

"Night Em"

I heard her rustle around in my bedroom for a bit then as I finally settled on the couch the steady beat of her heart slowed and I knew she had fallen asleep.

For the first time, I fell asleep to the sound of my imprint's heartbeat. It was the best nights sleep I'd ever had.

* * *

**So that's the first actual chapter. I hope it's ok. Hey just as a side note could you guys let me know if you want me to do some chapters from Leah's pov? Thanks! xo**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the awesome reviews from last chapter! I really appreciate your feedback. Here is the next chapter, it was going to be longer but it got out of hand so I had to cut it. Also, I chucked an AN at the bottom so you can read it if you like. Hope you enjoy! (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable. It's all SM. **

Chapter 2

I felt the warm sunlight caress my skin. I opened my eyes, a little confused as to why on earth my bed seemed so much smaller today.

It didn't take long for the events of last night to flood my mind again. I quickly diverted my attention to listen for Leah's heartbeat. The house was silent.

Panicking, I jumped up from where I was sprawled across the tiny couch and ran to my bedroom. It was empty. She'd snuck off during the night. And I hadn't even noticed.

My bed was made and there was a note laying atop the pillow. I vaguely recognized the paper it was scrawled on as a page from one of my science books. I picked it up, savoring her scent as it floated through the air surrounding me.

"Embry,  
thanks for last night.  
I'll wash your shirt and get it back to you,  
Leah."

I felt the disappointment surge through me. I was hoping to sit down and have breakfast with her. Enjoy some more time with her before reality crashed the party.

I glance at the clock, checking how long I had before I needed to get to school. I still had a good half hour so I plowed my way through a box of cereal before jumping through a quick shower.

I chucked on some cut offs and a shirt, grabbed my bag and headed out the door. I left it unlocked knowing mum would be home from work soon.

I took off at a jog towards school. With my new supernatural abilities I knew I could make it well within the 10 minutes I had left before the first bell rang.

I made it there with 5 minutes to spare so I stopped off at my locker to grab some of my books and headed off to class. I spent the morning in classes with either Jake, Quill or both but I couldn't pay attention to anything. I was just going through the motions. My brain could not get off of Leah.

I knew she would be off on patrol right now and I briefly entertained the idea of heading out to the forest to phase and check on her but I knew she wouldn't appreciate me trying to keep tabs on her. I also knew I would be able to check on her when I took over patrol for her at 12.

Us younger guys used to get the school hours off patrol but since Leah had phased, Emily had decided she didn't want Sam patrolling during the day because she had needed more waking time with him. And apparently what the imprint wants, the imprint gets, so Sam rostered us on for day patrols without any care for the extra pressure it had put on our schoolwork. At least we usually only missed the last couple of hours of classes.

He now took the morning patrol with Leah because Emily rarely woke up before noon. The rest of us were left to cover the remaining hours of the day.

Finally 12 rolled around and I felt myself get excited at the thought of seeing Leah soon as I walked out of my calculus class and headed toward the forest.

I stripped off my clothes, tucked my shirt into the hollow of one of the nearby trees and tied my shorts to my ankle before letting the wolf take over my body. I felt the tremor roll through me as I landed on paws.

I shook out my fur while I felt around for Leah in my mind. The pack mind was quiet so Sam had clearly already gone home to Emily. I felt anger rise in me at the thought.

Just because he phased first doesn't mean he gets to slack off whenever his imprint calls. None of the rest of us get to skive off whenever we like. What makes him so special. Just because he was the big, bad alpha. I tried to keep a hold of my anger so it didn't flow through the bond to Leah but I didn't do too great.

I couldn't wait for Jake to take alpha. It was in his blood. Sam had done a good job at teaching us all how to fight vamps but his brain was in his dick. And his dick was in his imprint most of the time. The pack was struggling under his leadership because of Emily's selfishness and Sam's unwillingness to say no to her.

I didn't realize I'd been ranting to myself for so long until I felt Leah's pain at my mention of Sam and Emily's relationship.

I stamped down my anger "sorry about that"

"It's ok" she replied. I could see through her mind that she was almost home. I knew she would get changed and head straight to the diner to start work so I took my chance to say something to her before she phased out.

"Hey Leah? If you ever need to get away again, my place is always empty at night. You can stay anytime" I'd been thinking about it all morning. I hadn't slept as well as I did last night since before I went wolf. I needed to spend more time with my imprint.

"Thanks Embry but I think it was just a one-off. I appreciate it though." My heart sank but I kept it to myself. So far I was the only one in the pack (besides Sam) able to keep a lid on my thoughts. "Catch you around Embry!"

"Yeah I'll see ya later Lee" I called out to her with my thoughts.

After she had phased out I began running my patrol. Running was my favourite thing about being a wolf. I mean the strength and muscles were cool but I loved the speed and I happened to be the second fastest in the pack after Leah. I actually enjoyed patrol. I loved watching over my land, my people and making sure everyone was safe. I loved taking in the La Push scenery from the woodsy colours greens of the forest to the salty breeze of the ocean.

What I didn't like about patrolling was the monotony of it all. As much as I enjoyed the calm feeling I got from finishing up a patrol and knowing there were no leeches hanging around threatening my town, constantly running circles around the place protecting the people from a seemingly non-existent threat could get pretty boring.

It's not like I was asking for a vamp army to invade. Just one lone leech here and there would do to make it seem like we were actually doing some good here.

After what seemed like an eternity I felt Paul phase in to take over patrol. Unsurprisingly there had been no action whatsoever while I was out running circles around the town.

After Paul had started running the patrol circuit I made my way back to my shirt, phased out, got dressed and headed home.

I knew we didn't have any food in the cupboard and Leah wouldn't be finished at work for another hour so I decided I'd head over to the diner to get some food.

I was lost in my thoughts when I bumped into Jake who asked where I was going. When he heard I was getting food somewhere other than Sam and Emily's place he wanted in. To be honest I think we were all getting a bit over the muffins. Couldn't the woman read a recipe book? Try something new every now and then?

We kept up a casual chatter interspersed with comfortable silences that stemmed from a lifetime of friendship. I tried my best to hold up my end of the conversation but my excitement at seeing Leah soon overrode all other thoughts and I ended up just nodding along with whatever Jake had been rambling on about.

I couldn't even catch up with my best friend without Leah corrupting my mind. I let out a small groan. This girl was going to be the death of me.

* * *

**AN: so sorry if my version of high school doesn't fit what it's actually like in the US. I live in little old NZ so my only info regarding the school system in America comes from tv/movies. I decided I'd just make school the same as it is here so school starts at 8:45am-9:30am depending on your school and it finishes at 2:45pm-3:30pm again depending on the school. There is an interval after 2 one hour periods of classes then another 2 classes then lunch and one period after lunch. Hope it's not too confusing (:**


	4. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy. Please review if you like (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own twilight or any of its characters. It's all SM. **

The bell rang above my head as I ducked through the diner door and the old lady working the counter turned to look at us. I remembered Leah thinking about her. Her name was Beth and she always seemed nice to my imprint so she was cool with me.

Jake and I took a seat in one of the booths in the far corner and I thumbed through the menu while I waited on Leah to get done with the other customers before she came to take our orders. Jake chatted away happily in my ear about something a rather he'd done with Bella recently. He'd been so upbeat since his Bells had figured out we were all wolves. I smiled at the thought of my best friend being so happy.

I put the menu down when I felt Leah making her way towards us.

"Hey guys, you ready to order?"

God she looked so good today, I could feel my body reacting to the way she smiled at me and tried my hardest not to show how I was feeling "yeah can I get a steak meal, a hamburger, a chicken burger and an extra side of fries please? Oh and a caramel milkshake?"

She took down my order and nodded at me. Then Jake placed his order and she scribbled that down too before she strolled off again.

While I waited on my order I watched her as she worked, smiling at all the customers and plastering on the charm. At first I thought she was just fishing for good tips but then I realised she actually enjoyed these people. Especially the older guys that were clearly regulars in here. She chatted with them, sharing jokes and asking about their lives.

I couldn't help but wish she was like this more often. Especially around the pack. Seeing her like this was something I was treasuring, she was so beautiful when she was happy. It made my wolf soar.

When I finally tore my eyes away from my imprint they were met almost immediately with Jake's curious eyes. Shit. He'd totally caught me staring at Leah.

He didn't even bother opening his mouth. Just raised his left eyebrow in question.

I stared him down. Not willing to talk about it. Years of friendship had taught him what that meant. He'd have to pry it out of me.

"Come on Em! What was that?! You just blanked on me for 5 minutes straight! Staring at Leah! Leah! You can't leave me hanging on this man."

I sighed. I really didn't want to tell him about the imprint. Not yet. I hadn't even told Leah. "It's nothing Jake. I was just watching." He looked at me like he didn't believe me at all but he let it drop anyway.

"She looks so much happier here than she ever is around the pack. Haven't you noticed? I was just wondering why she isn't like that around us."

He snorted at that "it's pretty obvious why bro. Nobody wants to be stuck watching their ex's memories of their current girlfriend. Especially when that current girlfriend happens to be your cousin. And she gets that every single day. I wouldn't be smiling a hell of a lot either."

"Yeah." I Smiled. I thought I was the only one who got it. All the others just act like Leah was wrong for being pissed but I got why she acted how she did. Turns out Jake did too. He was more perceptive than I knew. He'd make a great leader one day. One day soon I hoped.

Just then Leah came over balancing all of our dishes on her arms. She placed our meals down in front of us. We quickly thanked her and chomped the food down. I was starving!

The food was all gone in no time and Jake and I got up to go pay our bills. Jake paid first and as I stepped up to the counter he nudged me "hey there's Bella and Charlie!" I looked out the window and sure enough there they were climbing out of the cruiser. "I'm gonna go out and say hi."

"Sure man, go ahead. I'll catch you out there." Jake bounded off to see his girl and I turned back to mine.

I pulled a fifty out of my wallet and looked up to Leah's eyes. "How much do I owe you?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it Em. It's on the house" she smiled at me.

"You can't pay for my food Leah. I insist on paying. How much do I owe?"

"No seriously Embry don't worry about it. If you want you can think of it as payback for letting me crash last night."

I looked straight into her gorgeous green eyes. I wanted her to understand I was serious when I said this "you don't ever have to thank me or pay me back for taking care of you Leah. It was my pleasure and you know you're welcome any time."

I saw the blush rise on her cheeks and smiled at her "now how much do I owe you?"

She hesitated so I pulled another 30 dollars from my wallet and handed over the cash. "That should cover it. You can keep anything that's left as a tip."

She thanked me and I assured her it wasn't a big deal. I sighed before turning to leave. "See ya later Leah"

"See ya Em."

I yelled to Jake that I would see him around as I walked past. I headed straight home wanting to have a shower before I went back to Leah's to watch over her for the evening.

I hopped out of the shower and threw on a pair of boxer shorts. I must have been more tired than I realised because I ended up falling asleep on my bed.

I awoke in a daze to a rapid tapping sound on my window. Confused and still half asleep, I sat up and pulled my curtain back. I blinked a few times unsure if I was actually seeing what I was seeing. Eventually my mind caught up to my body and I pulled my window open.

"Leah? What are you doing? Are you okay?"

"Please Em can I come in?" Of course. I wouldn't ever deny her.

"Yeah, let me go get the door. Come meet me out the front."

She groaned. Then "ok. I'll be there in a sec"

I got up and walked to the front door, unlocking then opening it. Leah was just walking up the stairs and she looked up at me, a nervous expression on her face as she stepped into the porch light.

I gasped when I saw her. She had dark bruises across her face and I noticed she seemed to be walking funny. Like she had tender legs or something.

I ran down to her "Jesus Leah! What happened to you?! Who did this?!" She tried to walk past me but I picked her up and carried her inside to my room. I didn't want her to hurt anymore than she already was.

As soon as she was scooped up into my arms she said quietly "please don't pry Em. I really don't want to talk about it."

I cringed. I needed to know. Why wouldn't she tell me? Why didn't she trust me?

"I'll tell you Em. Just not now. Another time ok?" she sounded so desperate that I found myself agreeing.

When I got her to my room I gently lay her down in my bed and wrapped her up in my blankets. "You wanna sleep in this or should I grab one of my shirts for you?"

"I'll be fine like this" I could tell she didn't want to change only because she was in too much pain so I let it drop.

"Well do you need anything else?"

She shook her head at me. "I just want to sleep"

"Ok, well I'll just head back out to the couch ok? Call me if you need anything?"

" I will. Thanks again Embry. I really appreciate this."

I nodded and headed back out to the lounge grabbing a blanket on the way. I glanced up at the clock as I slumped onto the couch. It had just ticked past 10pm. I knew I had patrol tomorrow - it was the day that Leah had off and I covered her shift - so I crashed straight away knowing how exhausted I was going to be tomorrow night.

* * *

I was abruptly awoken by a bloodcurdling scream. I jumped up and ran to my bedroom throwing the door open and there was Leah, tossing on my bed and screaming. I grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to shake her awake.

"Leah! It's me, Embry! Wake up Leah. You're ok. You're fine. It's ok! Just wake up Leah!" I murmured to her in what I hoped was a comforting voice despite the panic I was feeling.

She finally woke up, tears streaming down her beautiful face.

"Hey. It's ok see? It's just me. Shhhhh..." I soothed her. She sat up and let me wrap my arms around her. I kept up my soothing words until she finally calmed down enough to communicate with me.

"Are you okay now?" I asked her

"Yeah. I'm real sorry bout that" she whispered back to me, clearly embarrassed.

"It's cool. You wanna try go back to sleep now?"

She nodded. I went to get off the bed and she grabbed at me. "No Em! Stay? Please?" she pleaded with me.

The desperate look in her eyes gripped my heart and I nodded. "Scoot over then"

She did and when I lay down on my small bed she rolled to her side and lay her head on my bare chest, throwing her leg over my thigh. Guilt flooded me as I revelled in the amazing way that this felt so perfect to me. I reminded myself that she was only here because she was hurt, lonely and vulnerable.

Soon after she fell asleep, snoring lightly on my chest. As soon as I had assured myself that she was asleep, I closed my eyes and let my own exhaustion overtake me.


	5. Chapter 4

**Here's the next chapter guys. Hope you all enjoy. As always, any advice or suggestions are welcome and appreciated. In particular, I'd like to know if you guys think this flows well or if I need to work on that. Thanks again x**

* * *

**Disclaimer: don't own anything recognisable. It's all SM. **

I woke up to a pair of gorgeous green orbs staring right at me. I decided right then that that was my new favourite colour.

"Morning sleepyhead" she said. Her voice sounded like a chorus of singing angels. It felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. I could wake up like this every morning. I sighed in contentment.

Then, I remembered the way she had looked last night. I frantically flipped her onto her back and started checking her state of health. Her bruises had disappeared and she didn't seem to be in any pain when she strained to get out from under me. I calmed down a little. Just enough to realise the situation I'd put us in.

I was holding myself over her, the evidence of my arousal for her blatantly pressed against her thigh. I quickly shifted my body, my face flushed with embarrassment. As I rolled off her, a waft of the most succulent scent I had ever smelled reached my nose. It was like vanilla with a subtle undertone of some woodsy scent mixed through it. I couldn't quite place it but I knew I wanted to bathe in that scent. I turned away from Leah, ashamed of my body's response to her.

"Shit Leah. I'm sorry about that. I just had to check you were ok. I uh-" I broke off. I didn't know what else to say. This was awkward to say the least.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it Em."

"How are you feeling this morning?" I asked, turning to look her in the eyes so she couldn't lie to me.

"I'm fine. My body heals quick too remember? All the bruising is gone" and then so quiet I knew I wasn't meant to hear, she muttered "they're always gone by morning" she got this surprised look on her face like she couldn't believe she'd let that slip.

I sat up. What did she mean always gone by morning? How often was she in that state? What the fuck was going on here? I felt my wolf bristle at the thought of our mate in danger.

"What was that Leah? Who is doing this to you?" I questioned her.

She turned away from me "I can't talk about it Em! Please don't ask me to. I just-" she broke off and I heard her choke on her own breath for a second. "I just can't Em. Please?"

I stood up out of bed and paced the room. I was fighting with myself. The wolf wanted me to press her until she broke and told me everything. Then I would ruin whoever was doing this to my girl. But the man in me knew that if I pressed her to give me things she wasn't ready for that she would resent me for it. So I went back over to the bed and pulled her up into my arms.

I held her tight to my body letting her presence calm me. And finally I pulled her chin up so I could look at her. "Fine. You can have your secret. On one condition: you come back here every night to sleep." I needed to know she was safe at least during the night. If that was all she was willing to give, I'd take it and be happy she gave me anything at all.

She looked surprised at my condition but she nodded anyway. I let out the breath I didn't even realise I was holding. I let her out of my arms and turned away, looking up at the clock. It had just gone 5 and I needed to get out on patrol before Sam came looking for me.

"Shit! I've gotta get out of here!" I turned to Leah "you cool letting yourself out when you're ready?" She nodded. "Sweet. Help yourself to the shower and anything that's in the cupboards for breakfast ok?"

"Thanks" she replied.

"And Lee? I'll see you tonight right?"

"Yeah. I'll be here."

I gave her one last smile before I turned to leave. As I walked out the door she called out to me "hey Em?" I turned back to her.

"Be careful out there" she looked worried.

I have her a grin "always am Lee. I'll see you tonight" and then I was gone.

I ran out to the forest out the back of my house and phased. The moment I went wolf I could feel nothing but anger in the pack mind. Sam was raging.

"Where the fuck have you been Embry? Emily has been waiting for me!"

Oh shit. He was seriously going to tear me into tiny tiny pieces.


	6. Chapter 5

**Ok so I really struggled with this chapter and I'm not very happy with it so I just wanted to get it out and move on. I know it's not the greatest but please bear with me. It will get better. That being said I do hope you enjoy this. Please let me know what you think (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight. **

I saw through Sam's eyes that he was running the patrol route near his and Emily's place. He was furious that I had kept him from spending time with his precious Emily. I knew I was about to get a chunk taken out of me.

He began racing towards where I was running the border. I briefly contemplated running.

"Embry stop. You will not run from me" he ordered in that alpha timbre he used way too much. I felt myself come to a complete halt against my will. My wolf bristled that we were being ordered around. He felt that we shouldn't bow down to Sam. The human in me knew better though. Sam was bigger and better than us. The only one who had even a hope of standing up to him was Jake.

I heard Sam's paws pounding the earth, getting louder and louder. My anxiety levels started to creep up.

Then, unexpectedly, we both heard Emily's piercing voice cry out through the crisp morning air.

"Sam!" she screeched "Sam! Where are you?! You were meant to be home 30 minutes ago! I know you can hear me! I don't care what you are doing, get your ass here right now!"

Sam's wolf whimpered and he skidded to a halt before swiftly turning around and sprinting back home. He snarled at me as he went "this isn't over Embry. The next time I see you we are going to have a serious chat". I knew from the tone of his voice that when he said chat he definitely did not mean a conversation.

"Get to running Embry. You're on til Jared takes over at 5." I saw his backyard through his mind's eye and Emily started cussing him out as his wolf came into her view. Then he phased out.

I took a deep breath and thanked my lucky chickens that I'd escaped the beating I was sure I had been about to receive. I began running the border. My wolf was going crazy and I didn't understand it. It was like he was furious with me for submitting to Sam's authority.

I began contemplating how crazy my life had gotten in the last couple of days. In a few short days I had gone from being completely submissive to my alpha to hating him, and praying for the rightful alpha to take over, I'd gone from having so little contact with my imprint that I'd had to stalk her at her own house to having her sleeping in my bed every night.

Things were rapidly becoming a huge jumbled mess in my life and I wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Before I knew it, Jared phased in to take over patrol. I was amazed that I had managed to dream away 12 hours without even realising. I trotted back to my house and phased out in the forest, got dressed and headed back inside. I was exhausted.

I dragged myself up the stairs and as the porch light flicked on, a movement in my periphery caught my attention. Leah was sitting on the porch swing apparently waiting for me. I perked up immediately.

I walked over and sat down on the swing next to her. She leaned towards me without even realising she was doing it. I smiled to myself at that. She tilted her head up to gaze at the stars and said "I'm glad Sam didn't eat you. And I'm sorry I kept you late." She thought this was her fault? She can't help that Sam was being such a dick. Hell even if it was her fault, I'd get myself chewed out every morning if it meant I'd wake up with her in my arms.

"Don't worry about it Lee. I slept in. It's my bad." I really didn't want her to worry. She needed to focus on herself and whatever was going on with her.

"How long have you been out here anyway? You could've let yourself in you know?" I wanted her to treat this place as her own.

She blushed. "I haven't been here that long and I didn't want to take over your house"

"You can come or go anytime you need Leah. You don't need to worry about stepping on my toes" she smiled at this "come on, lets go inside. I'll make us something to eat." I said as I pulled her up off the porch swing and through the back door into the kitchen.

I pulled open the fridge and began grabbing stuff to make a chicken casserole. Leah just stood and stared at me. "Are you ok Lee? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You cook?" She exclaimed. Well of course I cook. How else did she think I nourished myself?

"Yeah?" It seemed to take her by surprise but she quickly recovered.

"Well then how can I help?"

"You don't have to. Just take a seat and relax."

"No Embry, I insist. If I'm going to be eating your food the least I can do is help prepare it"

I could sense I wasn't going to win this one so I said to her "you can start peeling the potatoes if you like."

She smiled up at me and we got to work. We worked well in the kitchen. It was like we could read each other's minds and in no time the casserole was baking in the oven and the potatoes were bubbling away on the stovetop.

We sat down together at my kitchen table. My mind swept back to the way Leah had looked last night and I got back to thinking about how I could earn her trust. I needed to know who was hurting her.

"What are you thinking so hard about over there?"

I shook myself out of my trance and looked at her beautiful face. "Nothing." I said simply, knowing that if I brought it up I would only upset her. I didn't want her to leave.

She gave me a look like she knew I was lying but shook it off and smiled at me. "So I was thinking Em. And I sorta thought if I was going to be staying here more often then maybe I should take the couch. It's not fair for me to take over your room as well as your house." No way. There was no way my imprint would be sleeping on that crappy couch when there was a perfectly fine bed in the house.

I shook my head at her. "No. You'll sleep in my room and I'll take the couch. It's not a big deal Leah and it's not really up for discussion."

The timer dinged and I got up to check the casserole. It was cooked so I turned the oven off and set about mashing the potatoes to go with it. I dished up a plate for Leah and another for myself then carried them over to the table while Leah grabbed some cutlery and a jug of water.

We sat down and enjoyed our meal together, both quickly polishing off all the food we had made together. When we were done she got up and silently started washing the dishes while I seamlessly moved to dry and put them away. It never ceased to amaze me how easy and comfortable things could be with Leah. We just fit together effortlessly.

When we got done with the dishes we both headed back to my room. I grabbed out a shirt for Leah to sleep in and pulled out some clean boxers for myself. "I'm just gonna grab a quick shower k?" I asked her. She nodded and I headed out.

When I got out of the shower I realised I had left my boxers in my room so I wrapped my towel around my waist and went to grab them. I knocked and quickly entered when she called out that it was clear.

I heard her heartbeat pick up slightly as I walked through the door and I blushed at her. I cleared my throat when I noticed her eyes roaming my chest "uh I'm just gonna grab my shorts" I quickly grabbed them from the dresser and took off out of the room before she noticed my reaction to her blatant appraisal of my body.

Once I'd redressed and calmed myself down a bit I walked back past my bedroom and stopped in the doorway. "Hey Lee I'm pretty knackered. I'm gonna hit the sack. You'll be ok here by yourself?" She nodded. "Night Leah."

"Goodnight Embry."

Once I'd settled on the couch I let my imprint's heartbeat soothe me to sleep. Unfortunately my slumber was destined to be short lived.


	7. Chapter 6

**Here's the next one. I really hope you guys are enjoying this cause I am having a blast writing it. I never thought I'd be any good at story writing but I don't think I'm doing overly bad so far. Anyhow, hope you like. R&R (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight. **

For the second time in as many days I was abruptly awoken by my imprint's scream piercing the cool night air.

The distress that flowed through my body was so sharp that I was jolted into a seated position on the couch. I rushed into my bedroom and started frantically trying to wake Leah.

"Wake up Leah! Wake up! Fuck! Come on Leah!" I practically screamed at her.

Eventually she came to, tears rushing down her face and I pulled her into my arms and gently rocked her back and forth. Did this happen every night? I was starting to get a little freaked out and more than a little worried.

"Shit Em. I'm so fucking sorry. I don't know what's up with me" she sniffed out between cries.

"It's cool Leah. Let's just get you settled again and we can both go back to sleep ok?"

She nodded, then shyly blinked up at me through her thick lashes, all shiny from her tears and whispered "will you stay again tonight? Please?"

Damn, when she looked up at me like that I couldn't have told her no even if I had wanted to. So I picked her up and repositioned us on the bed so that I could lie down and she could lay on me.

After a while, she calmed down and her breathing evened out enough to talk.

I breathed in deep, taking in the delicious scent that was all Leah. "You wanna talk about it?" I asked, testing the waters. I didn't want to scare her away so I decided against an aggressive approach.

She sighed "I can't Embry. I physically can't talk about it. I'm sorry." My heart dropped. She still couldn't trust me? I was shattered. I knew she needed me right now though so I pushed aside my own disappointment and just focused on her, right here and now.

"It's ok Leah. I get that you don't trust me yet but I'm gonna show you that you can do just that. And then, well then you can tell me k?" This set off another round of sobs. I wasn't expecting that but I let her cry all over my chest anyway.

I glanced up at the clock on my wall as Leah's heartbeat settled and she fell asleep on me. It was 3:46. I knew I should go to sleep or I was going to be exhausted in the morning but I couldn't even imagine giving up this time with my imprint. She was here in my arms and I didn't want to sleep this experience away so I just lay there gently rubbing her back while she snored lightly.

As she slept the night away I realised just how much this girl meant to me. I'd do anything for her and I was going to prove to her that she could trust me.

* * *

I must have dozed off at some stage because I was woken up when Leah tried to climb out of the bed. Considering I had wrapped myself around her in my sleep she was finding it quite difficult. When I opened my eyes Leah was just in the process of climbing over me and was straddling my waist. She looked down at me "sorry. I was trying not to wake you but I have to take off. I've got patrol in 10 minutes."

All I could do was stare. I was painfully aware of the position in which we were situated and my erection grew impossibly bigger against Leah as I took in the beauty of seeing her above me like this. God this was mortifying. I tried to divert my attention but I physically couldn't tear my eyes away from her so I closed them and ran through things that I hoped would calm me down in my mind. Baseball, hospital food, old lady, Emily's muffins. Oh god it wasn't working.

Finally, Leah cleared her throat and I opened my eyes to look back at her. She shifted her body a little so she wasn't in contact with my painfully hard member anymore. I gulped "sorry Leah. I couldn't really control it"

She smiled at me as she climbed off the bed, her cheeks as red as mine felt. "It's cool. I get it. Morning thing right?" She tried to joke.

I breathed a sigh of relief before mumbling out "yeah, morning thing."

I turned away from her, ashamed I had made her so uncomfortable here.

"Listen Em don't worry about it ok? Seriously. I really do understand. It's not like you could help it or anything. And I certainly didn't help matters putting you in that position. It won't happen again allright?" Oh man. I'd really hoped it would happen again. Well, not exactly like that but definitely something similar.

"It's cool Lee. You better get out there. Wouldn't want Sam to chew you out too. I think one of us on the alpha's shit list is quite enough to deal with right now don't you?"

She grimaced but before I had a chance to question it she plastered on a big (obviously fake) smile and gave me a fake giggle "yeah I'm gonna head out Em. I'll see you back here later?"

I nodded "yeah. Be careful out there Leah."

"Always am" she shot my own words back at me with a carefree grin on her face. I listened as her footsteps got quieter and quieter and finally when I was sure she was gone I turned my head into the pillow and let out a giant groan.

I was sporting the worst case of morning wood I'd ever experienced and I couldn't get the image of Leah straddling me out of my mind even if my life depended on it. So I jumped up and went to take a cold shower. It was going to be a looooong day.


	8. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, sorry about the wait on this one. I had some difficulty trying to get my thoughts out in actual words plus I've had a few assignments due at uni AND I got dragged out to an awkward dinner with my in-laws for Mother's Day. Anyway, next chapter is there now and just a word of warning: it contains a lemon so if you're underage or it just isn't your thing pleeeeease skip to after the first big line thing. I hope you guys enjoy. Please review! (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight. **

I stood beneath the cold water, trying to calm myself down but it wasn't working. After 10 minutes of freezing my butt off in the shower trying to get my mind off the feel of my imprints body above my own I gave up. I turned the temperature up on the nozzle and slid my left hand down my body past the ridges on my stomach to wrap my fingers around my erection.

I closed my eyes and braced myself against the shower wall, pushing my right palm up against it as I pictured Leah's body pressed against me like she had been this morning and I began slowly pumping my cock in my hand. God. That felt so good. I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning out loud.

I pictured in my mind all the things I wanted to do to Leah's body, imagined the way I would worship her as the goddess she is. And as I slid my hand up and down my smooth, hard cock over and over again, I imagined that it was Leah giving me this pleasure, that it was her hand wrapped around my pulsing member.

Then I caught a whiff of that vanilla sea breeze scent that was all Leah. She must have left something of hers in here. The smell alone was enough to make me lose it and I quietly (I hoped) moaned out Leah's name as I spurted my hot cum all over the shower wall.

I continued slowly pumping my cock as I came down from the high of my orgasm. Then I washed up and made sure I'd rinsed my jizz off the shower wall before climbing out and wrapping a towel around my waist. I headed back to my room to get changed for school.

* * *

Walking into my bedroom I was assaulted with Leah's scent. I wanted to skip school and just lay here all day bathing in it but that sounded a little bit creepy even to myself so I threw on my clothes, went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast and jogged to school.

I heard someone yelling my name as I walked through the front gate so I turned to look over my shoulder just in time to see Quill tackle me into the grass off the side of the pathway. We started wrestling him having the upper hand with his superior strength. He pinned me down and started twisting my wrist a bit before I conceded "allright allright I give! Get off me Quill!" I yelled at him, a hint of laughter making it into my voice.

He jumped up and reached a hand down and helped me up too. We were just brushing ourselves off as Jake walked up to us with his trademark grin on his face. "So what have you 2 been up to huh? Rolling around in the grass together?" He said in a teasing tone, a slight rise to his eyebrows.

"You jealous? There's more than enough of me to go around Jakey" Quill teased back as we began walking towards the school.

We all laughed and kept up our playful banter as we walked into our first class, physics. We all took the class so we sat together near the back and waited for the teacher to start the lesson.

We sat through the class together, Quill passing notes back and forth with one of the girls whose name I always forgot. He did this every physics lesson. He had been trying to get this girl to go on a date with him since before I could remember. It looked like he was having some luck today. Jake sat to my right actually paying attention to the teacher and I spent the class sketching in my book.

I had almost finished my picture of Leah sitting in the porch swing last night when the bell went for class to change. We all packed up our stuff and took off to our next classes. I spent the rest of my morning pretending to pay attention but actually finishing up my sketch and nobody in my classes bothered me.

When it came time for me to take over patrol I ran out the back of the school to my phase spot in the forest and let the wolf take over my body. As usual, Leah was still running the border while Sam had taken off early, presumably to see Emily.

"Hey Lee" I thought towards the silver wolf that was my imprint "you can take off now, I've got it covered."

"Thanks Em" she shot back at me. I could see through her mind that she was outside her house and then she phased out and I was alone in the pack mind. As my paws dug through the familiar soil I started feeling pretty resentful about the whole patrol schedule. The amount of patrolling we were forced to do was getting pretty out of hand. I knew just thinking about it was going to get me worked up and it wouldn't really achieve anything so I tried I shake the thought from my mind and focus on protecting the tribe.

* * *

When I finished my patrol and Quill phase in to take over I ran straight back to my place, anxious to see Leah, and phased out wishing Quill good luck as I went.

I grabbed a pair of shorts I had tucked into a tree out back of my house and ran to the porch. Again, Leah was sitting on the porch swing waiting for me. My heart skipped a beat at the mere sight of her. I smiled up at her "I thought I told you to come and go as you like? You don't have to wait for me to get home before you go inside Lee"

She blushed "yeah... I tried but uh... The door was locked?" she said shyly.

Oops. I walked over to the door and lifted up the doormat. "And you didn't think to look in the most obvious spare key spot known to man kind?" I grinned at her then turned to unlock the door. I slid the key back under the doormat and held the door open for Leah to enter then followed her inside.

"Have you eaten? I asked her.

She nodded then dug into the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a container "I brought you something from the diner" she looked down then "I figured you'd be hungry and tired and you wouldn't want to cook but if you don't want it that's cool too I just-"

I took the container from her hands and said "you don't have to ramble Leah. I really appreciate you doing this for me. Thanks a lot." I meant it. My imprint cooked for me. No way was I going to turn that down.

She sat with me at the table as I ate my dinner and then when it was time to go to bed I cleared my throat and tried to casually bring up something I'd been thinking about all afternoon.

"Hey Lee?"

She looked up at me from my bed.

"I was uh thinking..." I rubbed my hands together as I talked at the ground "I mean, do you have those nightmares every night?" I looked up so I could see her reaction.

She hesitated, then cautiously nodded like she was expecting me to flip out about it.

"In that case ummm... Do you think- Maybe we could-" I cut myself off, took a deep breath and tried to come up with the right way to put this "what I'm trying to say is, do you think it would be better if we started the night together then? I mean we always end up that way in the end. You might get a better sleep if I'm here the whole time." Yeah cause that's why I wanted to share a bed with her.

She looked like she was taken completely off guard by this. I almost started to take back my offer when she looked me right in the eye and said "that would be good Em. I mean if its ok with you?" Oh it was way more than ok with me. I nodded.

I changed into some boxers to sleep in as Leah put on my shirt. We jumped into bed and she snuggled up on my side, laying her head on my chest. I quickly fell asleep, exhausted from my day and lack of sleep the past few nights.

For the first time since I'd started sharing my house with Leah neither of us were bothered by her nightmares and we both slept soundly until morning.


	9. Chapter 8

**So I hope you guys like this chapter. Read and review please (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight**

Chapter 8

We easily settled into a rhythm. Each morning Leah would get up and do her patrol. I would jack off in the shower (my sexual frustration was getting more and more pronounced the longer I shared a bed with Leah) and head off to school. I'd spend the morning goofing around with Jake and Quill (depending on if they had patrol or not) or in classes and Leah would pass off patrol to me at lunch before she went to do her shift at the diner. Even though she knew where the spare key lived, she would always be waiting for me on that porch swing when I finished my patrol and we would go inside together and have dinner before heading off to bed. When we got to my bed Leah would always snuggle up against my side and I would wait until I was sure she was sleeping before I would let my own eyelids drift shut.

There had been a couple more times when Leah had come home with bruises across her caramel tinted skin but she still refused to talk to me about it. I was getting more and more frustrated with the entire situation.

Despite her reluctance to talk about the bruising she occasionally displayed across her gorgeous body, Leah had really began opening up to me about the rest of her life a little more. Since we had both been getting more rest at night, we had begun chatting a bit in bed before we went to sleep.

She had told me all about her father. How she and Harry had had this amazing bond. How he had loved to take her out fishing as a kid and how he (not her mother) had learned to French braid her hair when all the other girls at pre-school teased her for wearing a ponytail everyday. She teared up some when she told me how Harry had attended every single one of her school plays, ballet recitals and spelling bees even when her mother had yelled, screamed and nagged him for weeks after that they couldn't afford for him to take the time off work. It was clear as daylight to me that she missed her father and part of me thought she still believed she was to blame for his death so when she got teary talking about it I just wrapped her in my arms and rocked her gently until she calmed down. She would always look up at me with a strange look in her gorgeous green eyes afterwards.

She also told me about Seth. How she missed him now that she was spending her nights over here. She told me she felt guilty for leaving him there to deal with their mother on his own but she was better about it now that she had talked Jake and Billy into letting him stay at their house most nights. She told me how she had saved up some money from her job at the diner so she could buy him a car for his birthday this year when he turned 16. It made me wish I had a big sister.

I, in turn, told her about my childhood. I told her about how my mum and I used to be so close and that I missed her now that she worked nights and we never saw each other. I told her how every year mum would make me a white chocolate cheesecake on my birthday and that we always ate it before dinner. I told her that I'd secretly cried myself to sleep when she'd neglected to make one on my last birthday. I told her about how my mum used to take me to the playground when I was a child and all the other parents there would look down on us. I told her about the hurt I felt when I realised later on in life that it was because I had no father. I told her how my mum used to sing me to sleep when I began having nightmares at 8 years old. And I told her about how much it ripped me up to know that the same woman who gave her life to me for 15 years now hates the mere sight of me. Leah just laid her head on my chest and nuzzled into my neck as I told her about all the pain I felt because I had to hide what I was from my mother. She nodded against me when I exclaimed that it was bullshit that Sam had forbidden me to tell my mum about the pack. Especially when everyone else's parents knew (well except Paul, but Paul's father had taken off when he was a kid and his mother had died of an overdose on heroin a few years back so it doesn't really count).

Over the course of a few weeks Leah had become my best friend and I hoped I had become hers. We moulded into each others lives so naturally and when I woke up next to her every morning the first thought to run through my mind was always that surely there was nothing else in this world that could ever feel more perfect than this.

And that's exactly what I thought when I woke up one Friday morning. Then, shortly after, the world came tumbling down on me.

* * *

I lay there on the bed with Leah's head resting on my chest and tried to keep still as I waited for Leah to wake up and go off to patrol. She slowly roused from her slumber as I drew patterns on the exposed skin of her arm with my fingers and eventually she opened her eyes.

"Morning sleepyhead" I said softly

"Morning" she grumbled in that raspy voice she always had first thing in the morning. It was my favourite sound.

"You want some coffee? Ill go turn the pot on?"

"Please." She responded shortly.

I'd learned that she was not a morning person and the coffee really helped. I tried to be thoughtful one morning and put the coffee on to brew before she woke up but I accidentally woke her as I got out of the bed and she went ape shit on me so now I just waited for her to wake naturally.

I unravelled her body from mine and jumped out of bed to get her a coffee and when I returned to my room she was still in the same spot, covering her eyes with the pillow.

I laughed at her "come on Lee you gotta get up."

"No!" She grumbled like a petulant child.

I waved the coffee around her head, letting the aroma get to her.

She finally sat up against the wall and took the mug from my hand. She scooted closer to the far wall and patted the spot next to her for me to sit. She downed the coffee in one go as I took a seat and after a couple of moments she said "I don't know how on Earth you are as happy as you are when you wake up in the morning" in an extremely serious tone of voice.

I just chuckled at her. It was really because I got to wake up next to her but I wasn't going to tell her that.

We sat there chatting quietly about what we were each doing today and then we got up. Leah went off to patrol and I went ahead and got my "shower" out of the way before I took off for my last day of school for the week.

I sat through my morning classes and traded out my notes with Jake and Quill. We all missed classes here and there but if one of us missed a class another one was always there so we just traded notes and managed to get all the class material that way. Afterwards, I went out to take patrol for Leah and to my surprise Sam was still phased in.

The mood in the pack mind was tense but before I could ponder it Sam turned his attention to me.

"Pack meeting tonight Embry. You will be at my house at 6" he ordered "and you will stay for dinner. Emily says she's been missing you around the place" he said in a disapproving tone like I was to blame for his imprint's feelings.

"Yeah Sam, I'll be there" I thought back.

"Good. Leah phase out. Your patrol is over" my wolf bristled that he was ordering my imprint around but I tried to keep it contained. I wasn't ready for Sam to find out about that yet.

I felt Leah phase out near her house and as I started running my patrol Sam thought to me "and don't think I've forgotten about that little chat we need to have Embry. We will be discussing it after the meeting tonight."

My wolf welcomed the challenge, he was getting restless with the lack of vamps in the area and any fight was a fight he was up for.

"I'll see you there Sam" and then I felt him phase out. I was outraged. How dare he run this pack like a dictatorship! We were meant to be family! And he was running us all into the ground. Paul, Jared and Leah all had jobs, Quill, Jake, Seth and I all went to school and yet Sam was the one doing next to nothing for the pack so that he could spend more time banging his precious Emily. Jared didn't get any special time off to be with Kim so what was so special about Sam?! And then he threatens me for being late to start patrol once? When he leaves early every morning! It was total bullshit.

* * *

By the time 6 rolled around and it was time to head over to Sam's for the pack meeting I was seeing red. I tried in vain to calm myself down before I got there and it worked just a little bit.

I stopped in the forest behind Sam's house and phased back, grabbing a pair of shorts from a nearby tree and throwing them on before I stormed out of the forest into the back yard where the pack was waiting in a loose circle on the lawn. I walked over and took a place next to Leah, giving her a quick smile before I turned to look at Sam.

"Now that we're all here" he started making a point to stare at me as he indirectly commented on my lateness. I growled at him as he continued.

He talked about how we were all slacking off and how the patrol roster was due for a change up. The more he talked about how badly we were all doing, the more the pack got riled up and the more pissed off I got. He told us he'd had Emily write up a new patrol schedule then he looked at Leah and said "some of us need to start pulling our weight more around here." and I saw red.

I stood up and stormed over to him. "Pulling our weight? Are you fucking kidding me Sam?" We are running ourselves into the ground to keep this place safe from vampires that don't even seem to exist! We have jobs and school and we still run our patrols without complaint!" I felt the pack's support behind me as I got up in his face "and where are you Sam? Where are you while your pack runs themselves to the point of exhaustion? You're here fucking your imprint while the rest of us pull your dead weight and I'm fucking over it!" I screamed at him.

He grabbed me by the throat and slammed me into the ground as his form started to shake. Before he could even respond, I had shredded my clothes and was standing on four paws. I was sick of him treating this pack like dirt, treating my imprint like less than dirt.

He went wolf and lunged at me. I dodged his attack and went in for my own. I managed to grab his hind leg in my teeth and he howled out in pain. I sunk my teeth in further. I could hear the rest of the pack in the back of my mind trying to persuade us to stop but I was too far gone for words.

Sam managed to get his claw into the flesh on the side of my body and I removed my teeth from his hind leg and snarled at him. A red haze of bloodlust came over me and I jumped on the big black wolf and pinned him down. My teeth found their way into the flesh just underneath Sam's neck. He whimpered in pain as I tasted his blood in my mouth. I realised I was hurting him pretty bad and I tried to pull back but the wolf was out for blood.

Then, a voice that wasn't my own carried through my mind into the pack mind.

"By right of blood, I am alpha here. Submit to me Samuel Uley."

Right of blood? Alpha? Was that coming from me? Me? What does this mean? What the hell is going on?

A wave of shock ran right through the pack and straight to my heart. Sam kept struggling against my wolf. He got this look of crazed desperation in his eyes.

"Submit to me Sam, or die. I will be alpha here either way" I whimpered. I felt helpless. I wanted the rightful leader to step up and take alpha but I never thought that was me and I never wanted to _kill_ Sam!

Finally, Sam gave in.


	10. Chapter 9

Last time:

_Then, a voice that wasn't my own carried through my mind into the pack mind._

_"By right of blood, I am alpha here. Submit to me Samuel Uley."_

_Right of blood? Alpha? Was that coming from me? Me? What does this mean? What the hell is going on?_

_A wave of shock ran right through the pack and straight to my heart. Sam kept struggling against my wolf. He got this look of crazed desperation in his eyes._

_"Submit to me Sam, or die. I will be alpha here either way" I whimpered. I felt helpless. I wanted the rightful leader to step up and take alpha but I never thought that was me and I never wanted to kill Sam!_

_Finally, Sam gave in._

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight.**

He managed to wriggle himself around so he was on his back and showed me his belly.

"I submit" his voice barely rang through the pack mind "please Embry" he whimpered.

I released my grip on his flesh and stood back, fur bristled, my mind wrestling to comprehend what had just happened.

Sam managed to crawl over to my feet and took up a submissive posture, making sure I knew he had truly given up control over the pack. My wolf was ecstatic. I was just plain confused.

Then came the sudden onset of voices flooding my head through the pack mind.

"Is he okay?"

"Jared go check on Sam" Jared ran over to Sam and started sniffing him over, checking for any major damage I may have caused. He seemed to be allright.

"He's okay guys"

"What the fuck just happened?"

"What's going on?"

"He almost tore Sam's throat out!" I whimpered at that. I hadn't meant to.

"Wait! Was that you Em?"

"Yeah"

"I can hear Embry again guys!" They hadn't been able to hear me?

Everyone else's confusion was mixing with my own and beginning to give me a headache.

"Everyone shutup!" I yelled in my mind. And then there was silence.

Holy shit. I ordered them to stop and they did? I was seriously alpha now? I took a second to mull that over in my head before I called out to the pack mind "sorry guys. I didn't mean to do that. Uh… You can all think again now?"

I felt nothing but relief when my pack brothers' voices entered my mind again. Brother…. Oh my god. This must mean… Jake?

I frantically looked around for him. I needed to know if he was ok with all of this. Finally, my eyes zeroed in on his russet wolf form. He let out a wolfy grin in my direction but I could feel his pain surging through the pack mind. I knew it because it was the same thing I had carried with me every day since I was old enough to understand what it really meant to have no father.

I needed to talk to Jake but not with everyone around so I called out to my pack "hey uh.. Could everyone just give us a minute?"

I didn't want to order them around, but even to me that came across as weak. I was hoping the pack would look past my horrible attempts at leadership while we sorted this whole situation out. Luckily, they all understood that Jake and I needed to have this conversation in private so; one by one they phased out, Jared and Paul first. In the midst of all the confusion I hadn't noticed that Sam had already phased back. The guys helped carry his weak body inside where I heard Emily scream. She panicked for a bit but the boys coaxed her into relaxing a little and she got onto fixing him up.

I turned back to Jake "you wanna do this wolf or human?"

"Might aswell stay wolf. You shredded your clothes earlier and I really don't wanna do this with your junk just hanging out. Besides, there's nothing going through my mind that I wouldn't tell you anyway."

"So…. Are you ok with this man?" I asked him with a grimace. I was sure he would detest me for being the living proof that his parents' relationship wasn't as picture perfect as he had always remembered it to be.

"Are you fucking kidding Em?"

Uh-oh. He was going to flip his shit on me right now. I braced myself for him to attack.

"You've always been my brother dude! Now it's just in blood too." I looked down at him and he was (amazingly) still grinning. I felt the smile spread across my face. The pain was still floating through the pack mind but he was still smiling. That was a good sign.

"You're not mad at me?"

"I can't be mad at you bro. It's not your fault my dad, our dad now I guess, banged your mum like 20 years ago" I groaned.

"Dude! You just talked about someone banging my mum. Not cool bro."

He let out a wolfy chuckle. "Sorry man. But seriously, I'm not mad at you Em. Billy on the other hand…" he trailed off and I felt the rage start to build up inside him.

I needed to calm him down, quick.

"Listen dude, let's not worry about Billy right now. We have pack shit to deal with." Suddenly a thought popped into my brain.

"You're not mad about the alpha thing?" I asked him "I know it was meant to be your gig and all. If you want it back I'm sure there's some way to exchange it or something?"

He emphatically shook his head. "Hell no man! I never wanted it! And you can't make me take it now! You're totally stuck with it dude!" he chuckled as he turned to walk towards the house, "come on Em, let's go see how Sam's doing."

We raced back to the house together and he ran inside to grab me a pair of shorts. I chucked them on and strolled through the back door to check on Sam. As I walked in, I heard the guys laughing and mucking around and felt a small amount of relief wipe away some of the guilt that had found its way into my body. If the guys were laughing then Sam can't be in too bad a condition.

I walked through the house and found the pack sitting at the kitchen table eating the food Emily had prepared earlier. They all looked up at me as I entered the room. Quill walked over to me and punched me on the arm.

"Dude! You got bigger!"

I grabbed him around the neck and gave him a noogie.

"Yeah! I'll be able to hold my own against you now huh?"

Just then, Emily's voice came from the bedroom "Don't even think about wrestling in my dining room or so help me god!"

I quickly sobered and turned to face my pack.

"I'll be back soon and we'll talk" I said with an air of confidence that I didn't really feel.

They all nodded and continued eating except for Leah. She just stared at me with a mixture of concern and awe. I smiled at her in what I hoped was a reassuring manner and mouthed out that we would talk later. She beamed back at me and my heart missed a beat.

I walked through the house, each step I took echoing in my ears. When I came to the bedroom door I stopped and took a breath and steeled myself against what I was sure I was about to see in there then I stepped inside the room.

The first thing I saw was Sam's body on the bed, he looked like he was healing well and in human form that chunk I took out of his neck didn't look nearly as bad as it had out in the forest. Then I saw Emily next to the bed with her head in her hands and tears streaming silently down her face.

I walked over to her and pulled her into my arms. I might not like her a hell of a lot and the way she treated Leah grated on my nerves but she was pack and she was mine now. I let her cry on my chest for a second before I asked how he was doing.

"He's ok. He'll be healed up in a day or 2"

I felt bad that I'd put my pack brother in this position, even if he had deserved it for being such a dickwad.

"I'm sorry Emily. I tried to stop but the wolf wouldn't have it. He wouldn't let me stop and Sam wouldn't give in. I couldn't do anything."

She looked up at me then, her eyes dilated in terror.

"You did this?! You did this to him?!" she squealed at me.

Oh shit. She didn't know. How didn't she know? Fuck.

I backed away from her slowly, not wanting her to get more frightened.

She stepped into the corner near Sam and I watched as the pieces started to come together in her mind.

She looked up at me with a chilling stare "you fought Sam…. You! And you overcame him….." her eyes flashed as it clicked in her mind "you're alpha."

The words left her mouth in a sob-like exclamation. Then a rage came over her. She threw herself towards me and started throwing her fists at my chest while she screamed at me.

"What have you done?!" she wailed.

I heard footsteps coming towards us.

"Jesus Emily, stop!" I said as I tried to hold her off me. She wasn't hurting me but I knew if she didn't stop soon she was going to end up hurting herself and then I'd feel even worse than I did right now! So I picked her up and wrapped my arms around her so she couldn't punch me anymore and she kept up her screams in my ear.

I was aware of the pack crowded in the hallway but I tried to focus on just calming Emily down as quickly as possible.

She was so hysterical that I couldn't even understand most of what she was trying to say. I picked out a few words here and there that sounded a lot like "power" and "ruin it all" but I kept holding on tight until she calmed down enough for me to put her back down.

When she felt the carpet beneath her feet, she quickly backed herself away from me and deteriorated into sobs on the floor again.

She looked straight at me and said "Get out of here! You're no longer welcome in this house! None of you are! Just leave!"

The pack let out a collective groan in the hallway but we all stayed put. I looked back at Emily in saddened disbelief and she almost broke but then she hardened her jaw.

"Leave now Embry. You aren't alpha here. All you are is the scumbag bastard son of a whore. Now get out of here!"

I felt the anger and pain take over and my body started to vibrate uncontrollably. Before I knew it there were hands pulling me away and pushing me out the back door of the house. I shredded my second pair of shorts for the night and took off into the forest, a mournful howl escaping my muzzle as I went.

I replayed her words over and over in my mind as I ran, pain overriding every other emotion at the truth of her insult.

"No Em, it's not like that. Come back. We have to sort out some pack stuff before the night is over." Jake's voice sounded in my mind. I felt the murmur of general agreement throughout the entire pack and I realised nobody had been running patrol since I arrived at Sam's earlier in the evening.

"Seth can you run patrol? You can listen in and give your piece while you run." he barked and started running for the border.

I turned around to return to my pack. It was time for me to hold my first pack meeting.

* * *

**AN: I hope you guys enjoyed this. Please review. It really makes me excited about writing more when you do (:**


	11. Chapter 10

**So here's the next chapter guys, hope you enjoy. Also, could you let me know if there's anything that you think I could do better with or anything that you think I'm missing in the story so far? All feedback is much appreciated. Thanks for reading and reviewing, especially my regulars. You guys really keep me going (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. I don't make any money from this, only enjoyment.**

I sprinted back to where the pack had assembled and when I trotted into the clearing I took a spot in the circle they had formed waiting for me.

The pack all turned to look at me. I started the meeting without delay. I was exhausted and just wanted to get this over with.

"First thing's first. I need to know how everyone is feeling about this. I refuse to force you into following me so if that's not what you want you need to say so now." I scanned the circle, looking for somebody to speak up.

Jake stepped forward first.

"You are my brother and rightful heir of the black family. The duty of leading this pack belongs to you and I submit to your authority" he said with a small bow towards me. I felt his pride in me surge through the pack mind and I stood a little taller, more confident now that I knew my best friend was still behind me no matter what.

Next was Quill.

"I'll follow you" he said in a surprisingly serious manner. He too, took up submissive stance towards me.

Leah simply said "You'll be a good alpha Em" before ducking her head ever so slightly towards me.

Seth called out through the pack mind "I go where Leah goes so I guess I'm with you too Em."

That just left Jared and Paul. I knew they were going to be the most opposed to the change in management so I just let them stew it all over for a few minutes and tried not to pressure them one way or the other. I truly did only want to be responsible for those who wanted to be under my leadership. I didn't want to run a pack anything like the way Sam had been.

Paul stepped forward aggressively. Paul did everything aggressively though so I wasn't sure what he was thinking. My three pledged wolves snarled at him but I called for them to back off.

"Sam has been doing a shit job lately. Something had to change and I think you of all of us are the most fit to lead this pack. I choose to follow you and fight for you. I submit to your authority" he bowed deeply to me. Everyone was a little surprised by his display. Of all of us Paul was one of the more dominant wolves and it took a lot for him to submit like that. I heard his thoughts in the jumble of the pack mind and I felt that he appreciated that I had given him a choice in this matter. To someone who had lost so much and suffered so much pain in his life, this one choice that nobody else had ever really offered him had meant a lot. It made all the sense in the world to me.

Jared stepped towards me, head held high. I knew he would be the most loyal to Sam, being his beta and all, so it didn't surprise me when the words came out of his mouth.

"I'm going to need some time to think about this and I need to talk to Kim. This affects her too and it would be wrong to make the decision without her."

I appreciated that.

" Sure Jare. If you wanna take off now that's cool, you're welcome to stay for the rest of this though. We shouldn't be too much longer if you want to hang around."

He nodded and decided he would stay and hear out the meeting.

I turned back to address the rest of the pack.

"Thanks a lot for your support guys. It seriously means a lot to me that you trust me enough to lead you." I wanted them to know that I appreciated any effort they put into the pack. "We've still got something else to sort out before we can go home though. We need to get a patrol system worked out that fits in for everybody. I don't want anyone to be sacrificing their grades or work time anymore."

Everyone nodded at that and seemed pretty happy about it.

"For now, does anyone want to volunteer to take tonight's patrol and the morning patrol for tomorrow? After that, I'll make sure I've sorted a roster out that fits for everyone."

"I'll take tonight and the morning" Jake piped up. I was about to argue that he couldn't take both shifts but he cut me off.

"I can't go home tonight Em. I need some time before I have to see my dad." I understood that but I still wasn't prepared to let him take both shifts.

"Fine Jake. You can take tonight but you're going to need some sleep at some point so in the morning you can come to my place and crash. Maybe we can go see Billy together when you've had some rest. Anybody else want to volunteer to cover the morning?"

"I'll do it. Aint got nothing better to do" Paul said.

"Thanks man" I replied to him.

I was about to wrap up the gathering and send everyone home when Seth called out from where he was running the border.

"Hey Em, you're gonna need to appoint a beta dude."

Oh fuck. I had totally forgotten about that. Oh well. It wasn't exactly a hard choice. The answer seemed pretty obvious to me at the moment.

"Jake? You wanna be my second, bro?"

It made sense. He had, after all, been raised to fill the position I now held. There wouldn't be anyone else who had as good of an idea of how to be an alpha as Jake (well except Sam and even if he was willing to help me out, I wasn't sure I trusted his judgement or his motives at the moment) and I was going to need all the help I could get.

He grinned at me.

"Yeah that's perfect dude. I never wanted the responsibility of alpha but I can for sure cover beta duties."

"Sweet. Then it's sorted. Jake will be my beta. If I'm not available, you answer to him. Everyone happy with that?"

Nobody had a problem with Jake being my second so I told everyone they could go home and get some sleep.

Everybody took off in their own separate directions and Jake began running the patrol circuit. Leah and I both headed back towards my house and if anybody noticed, no one said anything. When we got to my house I went to the tree that held the last pair of shorts I had stashed out here and phased out. I walked out of the forest and onto my back lawn and noticed Leah doing the same just to my left. She had pulled on a cream coloured sundress that glowed in the moonlight and she took my breath away. I lost memory of all the tumultuous events of the night for a second and my feet stopped moving of their own accord.

She just stared at me strangely as she came closer to me.

"You allright there Em?"

Shit. She'd noticed I was staring. I shook myself out of the trance she held me in.

"Yeah I'm fine. Come on, let's go inside and grab something to eat before I try and figure the rest of this shit out. I'm starved!"

She just laughed at me.

"We're wolves Em, we're always starved!"

"True" I conceded as I unlocked and held the door open for her to enter the kitchen.

I walked over to the fridge and scanned it for something I could throw together quickly for us to eat. There was nothing. The fridge was absolutely empty. I remembered I had been planning on doing some grocery shopping after the pack meeting tonight. Well, fuck. Now what?

Leah walked out of the hallway looking like a supermodel with one of my shirts on (it was so big on her that it covered the short shorts she'd put on underneath) and was already ten steps ahead of me. She'd begun dialling the pizza place in town to get some food delivered. I smiled at her and she began pulling out a bag of potato chips from the cupboard for us to snack on while we waited for dinner to arrive. She threw the bag of chips to me and ordered 2 of my favourite pizzas (meat lovers) and one of her favourites (chicken satay) with a side of fries, 2 garlic breads and a couple bottles of mountain dew, gave them the address and then hung up.

"Come on Em, let's go watch some TV while we wait."

I followed her to the lounge, my eyes following the swing of her hips the entire way, and when I collapsed on the couch and threw my leg up she settled herself in front of me and pushed her back up to my chest. I grabbed the remote and flicked on the television and picked out a repeat of how I met your mother for us to watch.

Pretty soon it became obvious that neither of us was actually watching the show. It was really just there for some background noise as we each got lost in our own thoughts.

"How does it feel knowing who your father is now Em?" Leah asked me after a while.

"I honestly can't say." And I couldn't. I was confused and if it was even possible, more hurt than I had been before I found out that Billy had fathered me.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I just thought it might be easier if you got it off your chest."

I wanted to talk to her. I really did but a part of me was still hurt that she hadn't shared the cause of her bruising with me. If she couldn't trust me enough to share with me what was hurting her then why should I tell her my deepest vulnerabilities.

Before I could tell her that though, we both heard the distinct sound of tires crunching in the driveway. The pizza guy was here.

"I'll go get that" she said in a disappointed voice. She had clearly picked up on my reluctance to share my problems with her. The guilt of hurting her feelings hit me like a freight train.

As she got up and went to get our dinner, I let myself get lost once again in my thoughts. Things were so fucked up right now. I was making every mistake in the book with my imprint, I had inadvertently taken over as the leader of my pack, I'd just found out that my best friend's father, a man that I'd known pretty much my whole life, was actually my father too and he'd never even bothered to claim me, I was falling behind in school and with taking on the role of alpha I was only going to fall further behind, and tensions between my mother and I were rising to an all time high.

When she was home in the weekends she only ever yelled at me or ignored me. It made it even worse that mum had a rule about not having girls over here so I'd been having to sneak Leah in through my bedroom window to sleep on the nights my mum didn't work. My wolf didn't like sneaking around with Leah and he let me know about it. My skin was always crawling, my wolf constantly trying to burst out of my skin when my mum was around. He wanted to show Leah off to the whole world including my mother and was livid that I refused. On top of all that, the hurt I felt at my mother's hatred of me these days made me defensive. So every time she yelled at me, I got worked up and we inevitably ended up arguing. When she instead opted to ignore me, my pain stunted me and I invariably would end up on four paws in the forest behind our house.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I jumped when I heard a shrill voice in the room.

"Embry Call! Would you care to explain to me why there is a girl answering my door at 12 o clock on a Friday night?!" my mum shrieked at me.

Holy crap! In the confusion of all that had happened tonight, I'd forgotten that mum was off work. Fuck. She was going to tear me a new one.

"And while you're at it, maybe you can tell me why she's wearing fuck all and you're half naked."

I gulped. If there was anything in this world that could bring an alpha to his knees it was definitely the stare that my mother was giving me right now. The one that said 'if you don't have a good explanation for this I am going to kick your butt into next Wednesday and don't you even dream about lying to me.'

"Start talking Embry." She said in a tone that brokered no argument.


	12. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! I'm sooo sorry about the long ass wait on this chapter. It's** **here now though and I don't want to delay you guys from reading it so I'll put the AN at the end. Hope you all enjoy! **

* * *

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with twilight. **

I stood there, just stunned for a second. A movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention and I looked over to see Leah in the doorway holding the food we'd ordered earlier. She smiled nervously at me and it gave me the shock I needed to get out of my trance and focus on the situation at hand.

I sighed and looked up at my mom. "Ma this really isn't what it looks like, I swear. How about we go eat some dinner and then we can talk?"

She just sighed at me with a tired look on her face that made her look years older than she actually was and I felt guilty that I had put it there. She turned and followed me into the kitchen. My mom and Leah sat down at the table while I gathered some plates and glasses then we all dug in. Thankfully, mom wasn't a big eater so there was still enough food for Leah and I to get at least the illusion of fullness. I ate the entirety of my 2 pizzas and a garlic bread while Leah shared hers with my mom. I tried to figure out what I was going to say to my mom while I stuffed my face and decided that we might as well get everything out in the open in one hit. Now that I was alpha, I was done lying to my mother. She had a right to know the truth, to know what her son was and if anybody had a problem with that they could take it up with me.

When we had finished eating Leah got up to clear the table and mom turned to me. "Allright Embry. No more stalling. It's time for you to do some explaining." I was surprised at how calm she was being. This was the most reasonable she had been with me since she had first figured I was sneaking out after I phased. I nodded at her and settled myself in for a long night. It was time to clue my mother in on everything that had been going on.

"Ma, there's something I have to tell you. I know it's going to be hard for you to get your head around but I promise everything is going to be fine." I started, trying to ease my way into this. I wanted her to be at least a little bit prepared for the shock that she was about to receive.

She paled. "Oh. My. God. She's pregnant isn't she?"

Turns out I was the one that was shocked. I went over what I had said and realised that of course that would be her first reaction. It's pretty high on the list of serious teenage problems. My mom didn't yet know that her son's problems were way beyond that. "No ma! Leah's not pregnant. We aren't-... It's not like that with us. I mean, what I'm trying to say is Leah and I aren't together." I blushed furiously. "It's about something else ma. Can you just hear me out before you say anything else now? Please?

"Yes Embry. Go ahead."

I took a deep breath. "I'm just gonna start at the beginning ok?" She nodded. "Do you remember the tribal legends?"

She looked at me like I was crazy. "Yes Embry. How could I possibly forget? You retold them to me over and over for weeks after I'd let you go to bonfires with Quil and Jacob" she said with a hint of amusement underlying her confused tone "what does that have to do with anything?"

I gulped and noticed Leah standing at the door looking on at us. She smiled at me, encouraging me on and it gave me the strength to continue.

"Mom the legends are real. They're true. All of them." I figured if I just spat it out quickly, it wouldn't hurt as much.

"What? What on earth are you talking about Embry?"

I dropped my head into my hands and tried to persuade her into believing me. "The legends ma!" I urged her "they're true. I turn into a wolf."

She blanched and stared at me in disbelief. As I pondered her reaction, a smile began to pull up at her lips. "Ok Embry. Enough of the joking around. Don't think you can distract me from what's really going on here. You had a half naked girl in my house. I don't need to hear your jokes right now."

She didn't believe me. Great. Just great. I'd had enough of the messing around trying to explain with my words so I stood up and headed towards the back door with a quick glance back at my mom. "Follow me. "

She snapped and started screaming at me "don't you dare walk away from me while I'm talking to you Embry!" That was about all I heard before I refocused on what I needed to do to get her to understand. I was vaguely aware of her footsteps behind me as I walked out into the middle of the back yard. She had yet to stop screaming at me.

I stripped off my shorts and before my mother could even grasp what was happening I let my wolf burst from my skin and landed on four paws.

She screamed as she struggled to grasp what had just happened right in front of her. I dropped my head, scared of what she probably thought of me. When I lifted my eyes to check on her, I saw that Leah had made her way to my mom and had an arm wrapped around her. I could hear her smooth voice whispering comforting words in mom's ear. Despite the situation, it made my heart soar seeing my girl caring for my mom like that. I needed to know what mom was thinking so I phased back while she continued to stare at me in shock and rushed to pull my shorts back on. I slowly edged closer to them. Mom was staring at me with wide eyes like she still hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing a wolf burst from her son's body.

"Mom?" I called to her "you ok?"

She just shook her head slowly, still staring at me with wide eyes.

My face dropped. She thought I was a monster. She probably hated me. God, why did I ever think it was a good idea to phase in front of her. I was a fucking moron.

She shook her head a little and walked deliberately towards me and before I knew it I had my mother's arms wrapped around my body. She started talking into me as she cried.

"This is what's been going on with you? I'm so sorry Embry! I'm so sorry for treating you how I have been. I thought it was a gang. Or drugs. I didn't know! I'm so sorry! Everything's gonna be ok now baby." She managed to splutter out between sobs.

I was flabbergasted. She didn't think I was a monster? She still loved me. I felt a single tear track its way down my own face at the thought and a small smile lifted on my face.

I couldn't say how long we stood there together, but I felt like I was floating on air. A huge weight had just been lifted off my shoulders and I rejoiced that I wouldn't ever have to lie to my mum about the wolf thing again. I'd never again have to see that look of disappointment on her face when she realised I'd snuck out again.

Finally, mum pulled away from me and said "come on son, lets go back inside. We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

**AN: First up, sorry again about the long wait. I promise that it's not without good reason. I had a motorcycle crash and I've been pretty screwed up for a few days especially with a ton of tests/assignments going on at uni too so I've barely had time to sleep let alone write! I'm not going to die though so I'm counting my lucky chickens. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and leave a review if you do. Thanks x**


	13. Chapter 12

**So here's the next chapter guys. I really do hope you all are enjoying this story. It's still a long way from finished and I'm hoping you'll all stick around to the end. Anyhow, enjoy this next chapter and let me know how you think I've done. I'm not sure it's come out how I wanted it to. **

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight. I do not own twilight. **

We all walked inside together and Leah said "um I'm just gonna go ahead and go home. You guys have a lot to talk about." I freaked out. I needed her to be here so I could protect her. Luckily mom was on the same page as me.

"How about you just stay here tonight. It's getting late and it isn't safe for you to be walking home alone in the dark. You can sleep in Embry's room and he'll take the couch yeah?" She offered.

"Thank you. I would really appreciate that." Leah replied and headed off to my room.

Mom nodded her head towards the kitchen table and I took a seat.

She sat down opposite me and said "how about you tell me all about this wolf thing Em?"

I was amazed by her. We'd had a rocky relationship for the past few years and here she was, taking this all in her stride. I was so proud of her.

"Ok. Well, I turn into a wolf. We call it phasing and we do it to protect the tribe."

"We?"

"Yeah there's a whole pack of us here."

She thought for a second. "All those boys? The ones everyone says are a gang? They all... They all turn into wolves too?"

I nodded. "Sam was first. Then Paul and Jared. I was next. Jacob and Quil joined later and our newest additions are Leah and Seth." I informed her.

She gasped and I just let that all sink in for a second.

"Ma, there's something I need to tell you before we go any further."

"Sure Embry. What's on your mind?"

I hesitated before saying "Iknowwhomyfatheris" all in a big rush.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. "I said: I know who my father is."

"Oh my god." She looked shocked.

"Why didn't you tell me mom? All this time, he was right there. Right in front of me and neither of you told me. Why didn't he want me?" I asked her.

"Oh baby" she got up and walked around to my side of the table giving me a big hug before sitting down in her seat again. "It wasn't as simple as that."

"Then how was it ma? How was it that he was #1 dad to Rebecca, Rachel and Jake but not to me? Huh?" I was getting worked up. She was sticking up for him. She was picking him over me.

"Embry, Billy hated not being there for you. He hated it." I scoffed. Yeah right. If he'd hated it that much he knew where I was my entire life. He could have come to me. Been there for me. "Let me explain?" She asked softly.

I nodded. This had better be good.

"When I was younger, I lived on the Makah res. My parents died when I was young and so I was sent to live with my uncle Jack. He was my father's younger brother. He was also an alcoholic. And when he got on the drink pretty hard, he'd come home and treat me as his punching bag. I had a rough few years living with him." I knew all of this. I'd even tracked down "uncle Jack" when I'd first phased and showed him a fraction of the pain he'd dealt out to my mom over the years she lived with him. I kept my mouth shut and let her continue though. "One night when I was seventeen he came home from the bar and beat me so bad I couldn't even move. I decided that night that I'd had enough of it. So when I'd recovered some, a week or so later, I waited for him to go out to the bar and I grabbed a bag of clothes and the stash of money I'd been squirrelling away from my job at a local cafe. I walked to the nearest bus stop and got on the first one that came past. I figured I'd ride it until I got to somewhere I liked the look of. I watched the scenery go by in the window and when I got here I knew this was the place. I got off the bus and made my way down to the beach. I didn't have anywhere to stay and it was late so I just sat on the beach all night, looking at the stars over the water, running my fingers through the sand and just enjoyed the freedom I felt being out of my uncle's grasp."

She had the most peaceful look on her face as she recounted that night. I was proud that she'd had the strength to leave that hell hole she'd been living in. I waited for her to continue and gave her my full attention when she did.

"The day after, I walked through town and tried to find myself a job. As it happened, the local doctors clinic was looking for a receptionist and I managed to snag the job. I found a small hotel to stay in while I found a place to live but every night I always ended up back at that same spot on the beach. One night, just a couple of days after I arrived, I went to my regular spot on the beach and there was a man sitting there. I went to walk past but he called out to me 'you can sit if you like'. And I don't know why, but I sat with him and we just watched the stars together. Every night after that he was there. He told me his name was Billy and I introduced myself to him. He asked me why I was bruised so I told him about my uncle. He told me I deserved better than that. He was always kind to me. One night I asked him why he came to the beach every night and he said 'the same reason you do. To get away from my real life.' Over the next few days he told me about his wife. About how she had sunken into a deep depression and how he wasn't coping too well with trying to keep her happy and looking after their two young twins. He told me about his whole life. He complained to me about the expectations placed on him by his family that he felt he could never live up to. It wasn't until later that I found out he was to be chief of the tribe."

"One night, when I arrived at our spot he was there. He had a half empty bottle of whiskey in hand. I took a seat and he started blabbering about his wife had left him, taken the kids and gone. I felt bad for him and didn't want to leave him in that state so I took the whiskey off him and brought him back to my hotel. When we got there he sobbed at me about his wife leaving and asked me how she could do that to him and to their children. I told him I didn't know but that she probably wasn't thinking straight and she would be back. He said that I'd never let him down. I'd always been there at our spot and I'd listened to him like nobody else had before. He was hurting and I was lonely. One thing led to another and we spent the night together."

I cringed a little at the thought of my mom having sex. Gross.

"After that night, we saw each other a lot more. We had fallen hard for each other in the short few months we'd had together. Then, one night I went over to his house to see him and I saw a car in the driveway. I knew it wasn't his so I was curious. When I knocked on the front door Billy came out. He tried to get rid of me quickly with promises to come visit me later before I heard the sound of a woman calling out to him. I realised Sarah had come home and I didn't know what that meant but I left quickly anyway. He came to see me the next night. He told me that he couldn't be with me anymore. That he had a duty to his wife to work things out. He told me she'd come home because she had found out she was pregnant again. I was shattered. I told him he had a duty to me too. A duty to uphold the promises he had made to me but he walked away without even a second glance back. I was heartbroken. I went to my boss the next day and handed in my notice. Two weeks later I was on a bus out of here."

"I found a nice place to settle in. Another small town on the beachfront but I missed the woodsy scenery of La Push. I missed Billy too. A lot. But I got on with my life as best I could. I got a job as a waitress at a restaurant and I had a small flat that I stayed in. I made friends with my new boss, a lovely lady named Anna and it seemed like I was really starting to move on with my life. And then I found out I was pregnant. When I saw that little pink plus sign on the test I dropped to the floor and sobbed. I was so surprised. I knew I was keeping you though. I already loved you and if it meant I had to do it alone I didn't care. I was keeping you no matter what anybody said. I made the decision a few days later that I would stay where I was and raise you by myself. I didn't want to go back and tell Billy. My pride wouldn't let me be rejected by him again."

"But a few months later, after I started showing, I started feeling guilty. He had the right to know he was going to be a father again. It wasn't fair for me to keep you from him but more importantly I didn't think it was fair for me to keep him from you if he wanted to be involved. So I took the bus trip back to La Push. It was dark when I arrived. I went straight to our spot on the beach. Something inside me was telling me that I'd find him there. And I did. When I sat next to him he just looked over at me silently. I was wearing a thick jacket so he couldn't see my belly. He turned to me and said 'what are you doing here Tiffany?' I jumped right in and said it. 'Im pregnant.' He was shocked. I slipped him a piece of paper with my phone number and address and told him to contact me when he had sorted it out in his mind. The next day I went back home."

"I continued working and living my new life until Billy showed up at the restaurant where I worked one day. He waited until my shift was over and came with me back to my flat. He told me he couldn't be with me. That his wife was having a hard time with the pregnancy and her depression worse than ever. He was scared that if she found out about us, it would push her over the edge. But he asked me to come back to La Push. He'd organised a house for me to live in. A place for me to raise you. He wanted you close by Embry. He said that you wouldn't want for anything and that he would make sure I always had a job if I needed one or that he would provide for us if I wanted to stay home with you. I told him I needed to think about it all and he left. A month later I gave birth to you, 2 months prematurely. Billy came to the hospital and saw you. He held you and I could see it in his eyes just how much he loved you. We were both worried crazy that there might have been something wrong with you because you'd been born so early but after a while in hospital it became clear that you were going to be just fine. He brought us back here and we've lived in this place ever since."

"Those first few weeks we were back here, Billy came around to see you a lot. Mostly at night. Sarah didn't know. But once she gave birth to Jacob, I hardly ever saw Billy. Money still appeared in my bank account each month but the regular visits stopped. I don't know why he stopped coming around. You'd have to ask him. I sent him pictures of you though. Every year I sent him a copy of your school photo, as well as other pictures I'd taken throughout the year. He always gave me extra money around your birthday or Christmas. I never spent any of it. After I went back to work I didn't spend a cent he gave me. It's all sitting there in a high interest savings account. I kept it for you. I thought you might want to go to college one day or something."

I was taken aback that she had struggled unnecessarily so that I could have the money my father had sent her to raise me. I was also saddened at the thought that that money would never be spent on college like I knew she wanted it to be.

"Billy made sure you were friends with Jacob and Quil. I think he just wanted to be able to watch you grow up. I know it's hard for you to believe Embry but your father loves you dearly. He is a man of duty though. And he felt he had a duty to his tribe and to his wife. After Sarah died, I thought he might own up and be a real dad to you but he never did. I don't know why. But I do know that it hurts. It hurts me too but you have to know that I have tried my best to give you all the love you ever needed and I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I kept making deadlines for myself. I'd tell myself I was going to tell you when you were ten. But then it rolled around and I didn't know how to tell a ten year old you that your father was the best dad in the world to your best friend but didn't want anything to do with you. Then I was going to tell you when you were 13 but when I tried it just wouldn't come out. I'm so sorry."

"It's ok ma. I get it. I'm just gonna need some time to wrap my head around it all."

She nodded in understanding. "How did you find out about Billy?"

"Oh. Well... The wolf gene is only inherited by those of quilieute descent. So when I phased we figured my father was from here. We all thought it was Sam's dad. But tonight, I accidentally took over as leader of the pack. Sam was alpha because he phased first. The only other person we thought could overtake him was Jacob because of his bloodline. The Black family are the rightful leaders of the pack as well as the tribe. So when I took over alpha, it was obvious that I had to be Billy's kid. I'm older than Jake so I guess I'm the Black heir."

She took a minute to take that all in. "So let me get this straight. You grow fur in your spare time to protect the tribe. You're also in charge of a group of other kids that do this and that led you to figure out who your father is?"

I nodded. "Sounds about right."

"Anything else you need to tell me about this whole wolf thing? And what exactly are you meant to be protecting the tribe from?"

Of course she asked the one question I was dreading answering. "I think it's probably better if you don't know what we protect you from ma, but if you really feel like you need to know I can tell you. There's some other wolf stuff but it's been a pretty long day, and night I guess, so could we maybe finish this some other time?"

She just nodded. "Yeah I think that's a good idea. And if you think I'm better off not knowing then I trust you Embry."

That meant a lot to me and I beamed at her before a yawn escaped my mouth.

Mom gave me a quick hug and said "go to bed son. You need some rest. You've had a long day."

Had I ever. I was so tired I didn't think I was gonna make it to the couch but mom pushed me towards the lounge so I went. I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.


	14. Chapter 13

**Next chapter's up. I wasn't too sure where to end this one so the ending is pretty average but I hope you appreciate the early update anyway. Enjoy your reading guys! Oh and thanks a ton for your reviews from last chap. They were the best so far and I really loved reading them (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight. I do not. **

I was happily dozing on the couch when a gut wrenching feeling flooded my body, forcing me upright on the couch. I knew without even thinking about it that Leah needed me so I swiftly made my way to my room where she was sleeping. We'd been sharing a bed for so long now I had almost forgotten about her nightmares but when I walked in that door she was tossing and turning and I knew she was about to let loose that blood curdling scream of hers so I rushed to wake her up.

"Leah. Wake up." I pushed on her a bit and her eyes opened straight away. "It's ok Leah. It was just a nightmare." She seemed to calm down pretty quickly so I went and closed my door and told her to scoot over. She made some space for me and I lied down. She snuggled into me like usual and we both went straight back to sleep without saying a word.

* * *

I was woken up by Leah gently shaking me. "Em! Wake up! Your mom's out of bed. Fuck. Wake up Em!"

I opened my eyes and nothing she was saying could distract me from her beauty. Her skin glowed golden in the early morning rays beaming in through the window. It was a breathtaking sight that stopped my heart for a beat. Before I could even think about it the words slipped from my mouth. "You're so beautiful Leah."

She just looked at me with annoyance. "Yes Em I know but you need to get out of here now! Before your mom comes in here? And finds us together?"

Crap. She was right. I could already hear mom's footsteps in the kitchen. She was lightly humming as she pottered around in there. Fuck. She would have already seen I wasn't on the couch. Oh god. I was so dead. I turned to Leah with a helpless look on my face.

"Climb out the window Em. Quick. Pretend you're just coming back from a run." My girl was a fucking genius. I jumped out the window and ran to the end of the block just for good measure. I bounded back towards my home and came in through the front door. I made my way to the kitchen to see if mom had cooked me any breakfast. She looked up as I ducked under the door.

"Morning! Where have you been? You weren't on the couch when I got up. Where'd you go?" She asked.

"I just went for a quick jog. Gotta keep my fitness levels up mama bear!" I responded.

She turned away from the pan she had cooking on the oven and gave me a stern look. "Really? Was that before or after you snuck into your room to share a bed with Leah?"

Uh-oh. Busted. I blushed. "Seriously ma, it's not what you think."

"I'm starting to really not like that sentence." She thought out loud.

"It's just..." I quickly decided to go with the truth. Well the semi-truth at least. "Leah's been having a hard time at home and she has these nightmares. She screams ma. Like this horrific "I'm being killed" scream. So I sometimes share a bed with her so she can get some rest. It's a pack thing. We work better around each other."

Mom huffed and pointed her wooden spoon at me. "You better not be lying to me Embry or I swear to God..." She trailed off.

"Promise!" I went over and gave her a quick hug and asked "are you cooking me breakfast?"

She just laughed. "Yeah. I thought I'd make breakfast and we could maybe talk some more about all this wolf stuff."

I nodded just as I heard Leah walk through the door.

"Morning" she said to us both. I knew she'd heard the whole exchange between my mom and I and I hoped she wasn't too upset with what I'd shared with her. She smiled at me so I thought she was ok with it. "Can I help with anything miss Call?" she asked my mom.

"Leah, please, call me Tiffany. And if you could set the table breakfast will be ready any minute."

Leah and I quickly got to setting the table and then we all sat down to eat. Mom served us up sausages, bacon, hash browns, poached eggs, toast and pancakes. It was awesome! I started stuffing my mouth full with anything and everything on my plate as soon as it landed in front of me.

When we finished eating Leah tried to get up and do the dishes but mom told her off. "You're a guest. Don't even think about doing those dishes. Besides I wanted to talk to you about all of this aswell."

Leah had a surprised look on her face but sat back down next to me anyway.

"So what did you want to know ma?" I asked her.

"Firstly, what does this 'protecting the tribe' entail?"

I looked to Leah and she answered that one. "Well we pretty much just run patrols around the border of our land. If we come across any trouble we deal with it. Though we haven't had any trouble at all since I've joined the pack. I don't even know why we run 24/7 patrols."

Mom just nodded. "So you have a system for that?"

"Well not really. We kind of did when Sam was alpha but since I just took over last night, I'm not really sure how things are going to work." I answered her.

"Good. I'll set up a roster. You need to do these patrols around the clock or you want to pull it back a bit?" She shot at me as she began scribbling furiously on a pad of paper I hadn't even noticed she was armed with.

I thought for a second. "Uh well I guess we could do just one person patrols until nightfall and then we'll need 2 people on at a time."

She nodded as she kept writing. "Okay. You have everyone write out their schedules for work, school, sports and whatever else they have going on and I'll have a system sorted out by Monday." I was surprised as all hell. It clearly showed on my face because when she looked up at me, mom softened her voice a little and said quietly "I haven't been there for you through this whole thing Embry and I'm damn sure going to do my best to try and make up for that now. I don't need any details about what you're doing, I just want to try and help you make this as smooth as possible."

I managed to hold back my emotions and just gave her a weak smile.

"Now. I know your grades have dropped a lot in the last year or so. I take it that's to do with this wolf business?" I nodded my eyebrows at her "and the rest of you?"

I cleared my throat. "Well... We've missed a lot of school. Paul, Jared and Leah have jobs and are all done with school though only Leah and Jared actually graduated. Paul couldn't get a hold of his anger problems enough to go back to school." Mum furrowed her eyebrows at that so I explained "oh when we first phase, it's caused by anger. And if we don't get control of our emotions we just burst into fur everytime we get upset. Paul's not so bad with it now."

She seemed concerned at that but asked me to recap how everyone else was doing in school.

"Well you know what my grades have been like. Jake's are about the same as mine and Quil's doing even worse than us. Seth is passing but he's way smarter than just passing. He used to be a straight-A student."

Mom just frowned at me. "And nobody is doing anything about this? Who the hell is running this show?"

Oh man. She was getting mad now. My mom had this thing about education being the key to everything. When she trained to be a nurse when I was a baby, it opened a lot of doors for her. She'd always been passionate about me making something of my life and she thought education was how I would do that. I guess that extended to the rest of my pack now.

"Well Sam was in charge, we said that before but he always answered to the council so they're running everything I guess. They gave Sam his house to live in and they pretty much say what we can and can't do. If they knew I'd told you about the pack, I'd already be in a disciplinary hearing but I don't care. They need to move over because they don't know what the hell is going on in the pack or the sacrifices that any of us have made."

She gave me a look I hadn't seen from her in a while. "I'm proud of you Embry." I smiled.

"Right. So school needs to be sorted out. Anything else?"

"I can't think of anything right now. Leah?" She shook her head.

"Ok. Well you let me know if you think of anything yeah?"

"Sure ma. Thanks for this."

"It's no problem. You wanna get the dishes for me Em?"

I got up and started washing up the dishes. Leah kept me company, chatting with me and joking around while I did them. Just as I was putting the last dish away, I heard a knock on the door. I went to answer it and found Jake waiting. I had completely forgotten I said he could crash here. "Come on in bro. You wanna crash or you want some food first?"

"Sleep." He groaned out at me.

"Sure man. Just go take my room. I'm gonna call a pack meeting later so you'll want to get as much shut-eye as you can."

He stalked off to my room. When I returned to the kitchen, Leah and my mom were sitting at the table chatting. Mom looked up at me. "Who was that?"

"Just Jake. You don't mind if he crashes here for a bit do you? He just finished all night patrol and didn't want to go home to Billy."

"It's fine."

I nodded and made my way to the phone we had hanging on the wall. I started dialling Quil's number. I was going to have everyone write down their schedules and bring them over to give to my mom before the pack meeting I wanted to hold. I'd decided I wasn't going to do this Sam's way or the council's way. I was born to lead this pack and I was going to do it my way. I needed everyone to know that.

* * *

When I had finished ringing around the pack to sort out a meeting, I pulled Leah up from where she sat at the kitchen table and took her with me to the lounge. I slouched back on the couch and let her cuddle into me while I turned the TV on. A couple of minutes later, mom came into the room and told us she was going out for a while.

We sat in silence for a little bit, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Then she turned against my chest and I saw her. She had a puzzled look on her face.

"What are you thinking so hard about there?" I asked her.

"Nothing."

"You sure? You look pretty puzzled there."

She turned so her face was right in mine and ever so slowly leaned towards me. She planted her lips on mine so softly I almost thought I imagined it. She pulled away after a second.

I was confused. Happy as fuck but confused about what had just happened. Before I could question her she attached her lips to mine once again and quickly deepened our kiss. I felt her hands lightly running over my thighs and I lost all control of my body. I flipped us around so she was laid back on the couch and held myself above her without breaking the kiss. She quickly began running her hands up my stomach and over my chest. I needed to breathe so I pulled away. I saw a hint of something that looked suspiciously like regret flash across her face as I pulled away and my heart dropped. Did she not want that? I was majorly confused.

"Leah? You ok?"

She nodded but I saw the sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry Embry. I shouldn't have let that happen." She whispered as she blinked up at me through her thick lashes. "I just- I mean this morning you said I was beautiful and I guess I just thought maybe you wanted this too... I'm sorry. Just forget this ever happened" she said as she tried to push me off her.

"Lee wait. Just stop." She stopped wriggling beneath me. "You wanted this?" She nodded shyly. It was quite possibly the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. "And you think I didn't want to do that with you?" Again, she nodded. "Jeez Leah! Are you crazy? You think I would've attacked you like that if I didn't want it?" I grinned down at her. I was on cloud nine. She beamed up at me. I was just leaning down to kiss her again when I heard a crash behind me. We both jumped up and saw Jake standing in the door. He'd dropped the glass of water he had in his hand.

"What the fuck was that?!"

I was just about to open my mouth when we heard a group of rowdy teenage boys approaching the house. The pack was arriving for the meeting.

"You won't say anything about this to anyone. You won't even think about it." I said to him, in a hurry to get this sorted before everyone walked through the door.

He nodded. I was glad he agreed, I didn't want to have to order him to keep his mouth shut.

The pack burst through my front door. Jared and Quil were punching each other on their way in and Paul yelled over their heads "five bucks says Jared takes him to ground first"

I grinned at my wolves. "You're on."

We shot out to the back yard and let Jare and Quil fight it out and Paul reluctantly handed over a five dollar note to me. I smiled and yelled for everyone to shutup.

"Allright allright let's all calm down. I want to get this show on the road. We've got a lot of shit to cover."

And with that, the pack formed a loose circle before me with Jacob standing just to my right.

I steeled myself and got into the alpha mindset. I was about to shake this pack up and we were going to start doing things our way.


	15. Chapter 14

**Hey Everyone. Sorry about the lengthy wait again. I've had some complications from my accident but things are looking up again now. I also had a lot of trouble with this one and a major case of writers block. I'm not happy with it but at this stage I'm not too sure how to make it better so I'm just gonna come back and edit it all at the end of the story. Anyhow, hope you'll all enjoy it. Thanks a bunch for all the reviews last time around. I loved reading through them all! Read and review (good or bad, I don't mind so long as it's polite and not mean-spirited).**

* * *

**Disclaimer: As always, SM owns twilight. **

The pack swivelled to face me. All except Sam who I had been informed was still injured pretty bad from last night. I cleared my throat, steeling myself at an attempt to hide any signs of weakness. I needed my pack to follow me unquestionably. That meant that I had to prove to them that I was fit to lead them.

"Alright so I'm not really sure how to start this. I'm not really sure about lots of things but I'm gonna give it my best shot. So here's the deal. I'm sick of following. If I'm sick of following that must mean you lot are too. So we're gonna start doing this our way. As a pack. The council either don't or can't understand how this truly impacts on our lives so I refuse to let them order us around anymore. We'll keep running 24 hour patrols but everything else is on our terms from here on out."

I knew before this that I was no good at motivational speeches so I decided to go with short and sweet. The pack seemed happy with how this was going so far, so I continued.

"Nobody is missing school or work anymore. We don't get paid for this whole wolf gig. We need to be able to support ourselves in the long term, that means education and jobs. Anybody struggling with school gets help. If anyone needs to pick up extra work hours, we'll work patrol schedules around it. If you guys chuck your schedules on the table before you go I can sort out a roster that works for everyone."

They all nodded at that.

"I also wanted to see if you'd made your mind up yet Jared?" I said as I glanced in his direction.

He cleared his throat and stepped forward a little. "Yeah I spoke to Kim. We want to help Sam and Emily but our place is in this pack. If they don't want to be a part of it then that's on them. We follow you Embry."

I was a little shocked. In all honesty I truly had expected Jared to side with Sam. They had been friends since long before they phased and Emily and Kim were best friends. Truth be told the entire pack was a little bit shocked I think. Jared must have felt it too because he started to explain.

"Sam's been a little off recently. I actually think he was starting to lose it a bit there. He wasn't designed to wield the kind of power he had. And even Kim's noticed how obsessed Emily had become with the whole thing. It's for the best that someone better equipped steps up. We all know you're level headed. The power won't get to you the way it did Sam. You've always had everyone else's best interests in mind before your own. You were born for this and we think we can trust you to lead Em."

I was taken aback and I felt myself swell with pride. I nodded at him and knew he understood my acknowledgment of his praise.

"Allright. Now that's sorted, I just need someone to run the next couple shifts of patrol before we get the roster started. Anyone interested?"

Suddenly everyone found the ground incredibly interesting. Great. I was going to have to sweeten the deal a bit.

I sighed. "If someone takes the next patrol, I'll cover their first rostered patrol."

Silence. I waited. That was as far as I was willing to move. Someone had to patrol. I'd do it myself but I needed to get the roster sorted and deal with how this new pack was going to run. Finally Jared stepped up.

"I'll do it. But only if I get an entire 48 hours off next week. And it has to be a weekend. I've been meaning to take Kim out and I want to do it big."

"Done." He went to phase in the forest but I stopped him. "Before you go. Stay and have something to eat. It's been way too long since we had a pack BBQ. I'll fire up the grill and we can chill for just a bit yeah?"

Everyone perked up at that. Quil smiled the biggest at the thought of food and grinned right at me like I'd just made his week. I lightly punched him in the shoulder. "Oh now you're interested in what I have to say!" I teased as I chuckled at him. The pack took that as a cue that the meeting was over and started mucking around. I left to start up the grill and went inside to grab the meat I knew we had in the fridge.

Leah was already in the kitchen when I walked in. She was peeling some potatoes. Even when she was doing as menial a task as peeling potatoes, she managed it with such grace that all I wanted to do was wrap myself around her and never leave the comfort of her body. I hauled my body back under control and walked over to her.

"What cha doing Lee?"

She glanced at me while she kept peeling the potatoes. "Well if we're going to have a BBQ, I figured somebody had better make something to go with the meat. So I'm just gonna make a potato salad and chuck a cake on for dessert. I called Kim and she's going to bring around some other sides."

I beamed at her. "You didn't have to do that. We would've been fine with what we already had."

She just snorted at that. "But you won't turn down the extra though right?"

I gave a short laugh "well if you're making it anyway..." I trailed off.

She giggled at me "get to cooking the meat mister! I'll be out in a bit." It was music to my ears hearing her happy like this.

I grabbed the meat from the fridge and went to throw it on the grill. As I threw the first steaks on, Seth walked over to me and made a move to grab the tongs from my hand.

"No offence Em, but I actually want to eat that steak. I know you're trying and all but you've never been a masterchef on the grill so how about you just step away and let the top chef take care of this."

I laughed at him and passed him the tongs as I teased him "sure thing Jamie Oliver!"

I stood with Seth for a while as he cooked and after a few minutes of joking around he turned to me with a dead serious look on his face.

"I know you're pretty much my boss now but I want to say that I know Leah's been staying here lately." I nervously looked around to see if anyone had heard him. Thankfully everyone was preoccupied throwing a football around, and not paying any attention to us. "I just want you to know, I appreciate you helping her out and all, but if so much as one tear falls from her eyes because of you, I will tear your head from your neck without hesitation."

I knew Leah and Seth had been close all their lives and I appreciated that he was simply looking out for her so I nodded at him and said "I wouldn't ever do anything to intentionally hurt her, Seth." Hell if I ever hurt her, I'd ask him to kill me myself.

He studied me for a moment before deciding I was genuine and then gave me that trademark Clearwater smile that both siblings could pull out of the bag without even giving it a second thought. It was good to see the kid smile like that. It reminded me of the few times I'd seen the exact same grin spread across Leah's face. I'd do anything to see it more often. That thought lead me to many more of my imprint and I lost myself in images I'd subconsciously filed of her for a little bit. I was pulled out of my daydream by Paul's voice.

"Dude, get over here! You're brother's cheating man!"

I turned to see they'd started wrestling each other.

"It's not my fault I'm better than you Paul! I'll even give you a rematch. You don't have to go crying to the big bad alpha about it." Jake teased him as he had him pinned to the grass. He laughed as he stood up and threw a hand down to help his pack brother up.

I smiled and walked over to where they were all standing as Jake and Paul reset for a new match. I turned to Jared. "10 bucks says Jake takes him down."

"Oh you are so on! Have you seen Paul fight? Best in the pack. No doubt."

"But Jake's got it in his blood!"

We continued debating the pros and cons of each of them until we heard footsteps coming off the porch. I turned and saw Leah coming towards us with Kim close behind her. Jared walked straight up to Kim and picked her up off the ground while he gave her a kiss. I wished I could do the same to Leah but I settled for a quick smile. She beamed back at me. She walked over to stand by me and we watched the guys fight. I was so happy to just be with her that I didn't even care that I had to hand over ten bucks to Jared after Paul somehow managed to pin Jake. We all mucked around until food was ready and we let Kim dish up first before we demolished everything that had been cooked.

When Leah carried the cake out, a specially large piece already cut and on a separate plate for Jared to have before he began his patrol, the pack fought and jumped over each other to get a piece. I was so mesmerised by the swing of her hips that I missed out. I shrugged it off though and just enjoyed being surrounded by my pack. They were all feeling comfortable and reasonably happy but there was a glaringly obvious hole in the weave that was pack. We all felt Sam's absence as much as we tried not to think about it. I hoped to the gods that he and Emily would join us again when things had calmed down a little.

Jared gulped down his cake quickly and left to patrol, giving Kim one last embrace before he went. She told him to be careful and he commissioned Paul to ensure she got home safely in his absence. They left quickly afterwards, Kim wanting to get home before it got too dark out. Quil decided to leave with them and get an early night since I'd assigned him to take the morning patrol. Jake had decided he still wasn't ready to go home and face out father so he left to go and visit Bella. He was hoping Charlie would let him crash on their couch so he didn't have to sleep on the forest floor outside Bella's room.

So then it was just Leah, Seth and I left. We went inside to watch some tv. Seth wasn't quite ready to go yet (he was staying at his own house for once, he said he felt awkward at Billy and Jake's since the truth of my parentage had come to light and Jake hadn't been home) and Leah gave me those puppydog eyes that I couldn't deny even though I was so exhausted I could've collapsed 2 hours ago.

I lied down on one of the couches and Seth took the other as Leah strolled out of the room. She walked back in with 2 plates, each holding a large chunk of cake. She handed one to Seth and the other to me as I moved my legs for her to sit next to me. She leaned towards me before saying lightly "I noticed you didn't get any earlier so I set aside a piece for you." I beamed at that.

"You are a godsend Lee" I grinned at her. I shared my cake with her and we all watched some old friends episodes that were playing. When my mom came home, Seth decided it was time to leave and he gave Leah a big hug and thanked her for the cake before leaving. Leah and I both went back to my room to sleep without even thinking about it. When we got into bed I pulled Leah into my side. I wanted to talk to her about what had happened between us earlier and what it all meant but I was so tired that as soon as her body was pressed against me my eyes drifted shut instead.

It was probably a good thing I actually got some sleep because things were about to get rough and I needed all the rest I could get.


	16. Chapter 15

**Next chapter's out. As always, thanks a bazillion to my reviewers! You guys are so awesomely encouraging and I love hearing your takes on the story. Keep up the good work (: enjoy this next one and again, leave a review if you like. Thanks!**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight. **

I awoke to the warm caress of sunlight across my skin. As I slowly shook off the drowsiness of a good nights sleep I realised I was alone in the bed. I instantly shot up and searched the room with my eyes, my heart thudding rapidly in my chest as a panic swept over me. I felt my heart rate settle as I zeroed in on Leah's slender form rocking in the chair in the corner of my room.

"Morning Em." She smiled over at me.

I took a second to calm down and get my body under control.

"Morning. What are you doing up so early?"

"I woke up a little while ago, I didn't want to wake you though, I know how tired you've been."

I stretched before rolling out of the bed and throwing a pair of denim cutoffs over my silk boxer shorts.

"How long have you been up?"

"Not long. Maybe an hour. Your mum just went for a walk about 20 minutes ago. " She replied.

I reached down to help her up off the chair. "Come on. Lets go grab some breakfast. I've got a bunch of stuff to do this morning. What time do you start at the diner?" I asked her.

"I've still got another hour before I have to be there. I called Beth yesterday and she said I could start a little later this morning." She replied as she followed me into the kitchen. I sighed, realising I wasn't going to have time to talk to her about what had happened between us yesterday until after she got back from work. The sound of my stomach rumbling pulled my focus away from that line of thought as I stepped into the kitchen.

I was too hungry to wait for anything to cook so I pulled out a box of cereal and some milk while Leah grabbed a couple of bowls from the cupboard. I was still amazed at the way we seamlessly moulded around each other.

We sat together in comfortable silence as we ate. When I was done with breakfast I skimmed through everyone's schedules that they'd left on the table. It looked like finding a system to suit everyone was going to be a little harder than I initially thought. I sighed as my head dropped into my palms.

"I'm gonna be stuck here all day trying to figure this out." I groaned out as I looked up at Leah.

I saw a slight blush rise over her cheeks and she looked at me in a way that made my body tense as I struggled to keep my arousal for her under control.

"About that... Uh, I figured since I was already up, I may aswell just take a look and I pretty much sorted it out. Then your mum came and helped out before she went for her walk and we finalised a schedule that seemed to work for everyone. We left it on the bench over there for you to look over."

I was taken aback. I couldn't believe she had done that for me. She wasn't exactly known for being nice but since she'd been staying here she'd been nothing but sweet and helpful towards me. I loved that she had let her rough exterior drop with me. I walked around to her side of the table and pulled her up off her chair. I looked her straight in the eyes and noticed for the first time a slight cinnamon tinge to her sparkling green eyes.

"You did that for me?"

She nodded and before my mind had even registered my mutinous body's intentions, I found my lips attached to hers. The kiss started gentle and slow but quickly progressed to a more passionate affair. Her lips pressed harder against mine and she moaned lightly into my mouth. My tongue teased at her lips, begging for entrance and she swiftly granted me access.

I slowly deepened the kiss and began to map out her mouth with my own as I moved us back towards the kitchen bench. I lifted her easily, placing her on it and she parted her legs to accommodate for me. My wolf was howling with glee at her attempt to bring me closer to her. I stepped into her embrace, bracing my arms on the bench either side of her so that she was trapped and she wrapped her long, slim legs around my waist, pulling me closer to her core.

I began tracing down her jawline with my lips and she ran her hands over my shoulders. My body was tense and my cock was throbbing achingly hard against her body. She moaned out my name quietly like a prayer as my mouth moved from her jaw to suckle lightly on her neck. It sounded so perfect falling from her lips that I let out a groan of my own against her skin. She moaned at the sensation and my jeans grew impossibly tighter. The wolf was insistent on taking her right there and I felt the tenuous control I only barely held over my body begin to slip.

I dug my fingers into the bench top as my mouth moved of its own accord from her supple neck to place kisses along the exposed skin stretched over her collarbone. I felt her nails dig into the flesh of my triceps as she wrapped her hands around the muscular form of my upper arms just before she let out another small moan.

It was too much. I knew I was about to lose control so I clamped down on my body and moved to nuzzle the junction of her neck and shoulder while I gently removed her legs from my waist and pulled my body just slightly away from hers. My wolf was scratching at me, compelling me to just take her right here but I stomped him down. My Leah was worth way more than a quick fuck on my mother's kitchen bench. I instinctually knew she would regret it if I took her now.

"We have to stop now" I said against her neck and I felt her body tense.

I took in one last taste of her scent and pulled away to look at her, slightly breathless. She looked a little panicked, which in turn set my nerves on fire.

"What's wrong Em?" She asked me so quietly I almost didn't hear her.

"I'm sorry Lee. I didn't mean to get carried away like that. I just- I had to stop. The wolf, he-..." My voice broke as I tried to make her understand "I wouldn't have been able to stop Leah."

She just nodded. And we both stayed as we were for a second, attempting to come down from the high we had just driven each other to.

"What is this Em?" She asked me motioning between us with her arms.

I sighed. I didn't want to get into this right now when I knew she was going to have to leave soon but I couldn't find it in myself to lie to her. "This is whatever you want it to be. I'll be whatever you need me to be Lee. You just let me know what you want." I said softly as I pushed a loose strand of hair that was lying across her cheek behind her ear.

She nodded at me, smiling and I leaned in to give her a light peck on the lips before resting my forehead against hers and savouring her scent. Before too long we heard the scrunch of footsteps walking up the driveway and I pulled away from my imprint.

"Come on, you gotta go get ready for work and I need to get some pack stuff sorted out." I said as I lifted her off the bench and placed her down on her feet.

Leah headed off towards the bathroom to shower and I managed to get my body under control just as my mom walked in the door.

"Morning!" She called to me as she placed 2 large takeaway cups of coffee on the bench. "I got you two some coffee."

I smiled at her and grabbed one of the coffees, gulping it down in a few mouthfuls. "Thanks ma. Leah's just gone to take a shower. She should be out pretty soon. I'm just gonna take a look at this roster you guys drew up." I said as I pulled the paper off the bench and went to sit at the table with it.

"Sure thing kiddo. Hey I was thinking maybe we could have dinner together tonight. I'm starting work again tomorrow so I won't see you a lot during the week. I thought it might be nice to enjoy a meal together for a change? I'll cook?"

"Sure ma. That'd be cool."

"Good. I'll see you here at 7 then. I'm heading out to get some groceries." She said as she flicked her keyring around her finger while she walked out the door.

"Drive safe ma!" I yelled to her as she left.

I settled in to read through the roster they'd written out for the pack just as Leah emerged from the hallway, freshly showered, and strolled into the kitchen.

"Mom left you some coffee on the bench there" I called to her without lifting my eyes from the page. I heard her pick up the cup and she walked towards me and leaned over the back of my chair as she took a sip of her coffee.

"So whaddaya think? How'd we do?"

I smiled up at her. "It looks good but look here, if we switch a few shifts around and maybe I take on some extras, everybody can have a day off once a week. See here? If we switch Jake and Jared's shifts here they can each have a day off? Same here with Quil and Seth. It'll need some fine tuning but I think I can figure it out so we can all have a day off sometimes. You bout to leave?" I asked her, noticing she was wearing her work uniform.

"Yeah. I'll see you later on k? I'll be having dinner with Seth tonight. I owe him after he had to stay there with our mother by himself last night but I'll be back after that ok?"

"Sure thing. Have a good day okay? And call me if you need anything? Oh and make sure Seth walks you back here." I wasn't too keen on her being out of my sight for so long today but I got that she needed some time with her brother.

"Yes dad!" She murmured under her breath as she leaned down to give me a kiss. "You have a good day too allright? I'll see you later Em!"

And with that she left to go to work.

I rearranged the timetable over and over again, trading out shifts between everyone. After a lot of reworking and me taking on three extra patrol shifts a week, I was able to craft the schedule so that we each got one day off every week and the way it was set up meant that the day we got off would rotate every week. Pleased with my efforts on the patrol roster, I stuffed the paper into my top draw before having a quick shower and chucking on some clean clothes.

I quickly locked up the house and took off to get started on my second task of the day.

I wasn't sure if it was because I wanted to just enjoy the walk or because I was dreading what I was about to do but I took my time walking through the Rez. Finally, I arrived at my destination. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the fight I was sure I was heading into before walking purposefully up the pathway and stairs. I stood in front of the door and took my last chance to smother any nerves, worry and insecurities I was feeling. I was alpha now. That meant suppressing any and all weakness. Then, I raised my hand and knocked on the door.

The door swung open and I wasn't entirely surprised to see the polite smile fade away.

"What do you want Embry?"


	17. Chapter 16

**Hey guys. Sorry again on the wait. I've got exams coming up so I've been hecticly studying in a vain attempt to scrape a pass. Because I have said exams coming up, you can probably expect some more week long waits in the near future but as soon as exams are done I'll be back to updating every few days. So I hope you guys enjoy this next instalment. Read and review (:**

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight. **

"Can I come in Emily? I need to see him." I asked her trying to keep the situation as calm as I could.

"No. You aren't welcome and I won't have you stressing him. He needs his rest to recover properly." She said pointedly at me.

I sighed. I had hoped this could go smoothly but it appeared I was in for a fight. I puffed myself up and drew on my alpha instincts.

"With all due respect Em, I'm going in to see him whether you like it or not."

She visibly cowered a little from my imposing form and I vaguely wondered if she realised she was baring her neck to me. She stepped aside and let me pass. When she made a move to follow me I turned back to her and pierced her with my gaze.

"I need to speak to him alone." I said in a commanding tone. I knew instinctually that she would submit to my wolf's dominating presence. She may have been an alpha's mate but she was far from a dominant member of this pack. Whether she wanted to acknowledge it or not, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from submitting to me.

"Fine. I'm sure you can find him then." She shot at me, a scowl spread across her marred face.

With that, I turned and made my way towards the bedroom where I heard Sam breathing from. I took a second when I got to the door to collect myself and knocked loudly before entering. Sam was cooped up on the bed and when he turned to face me I had to stifle a gasp. He was still a little cut up and looked like he was in some pain. I felt the guilt seep into my soul and I slumped a little as the weight of it settled on me. I hated that I had done that to him. With our healing abilities, the fact that he was still recovering days later meant that I'd really gone to town on him. I needed to get better control of my wolf. It used to come natural, so much so that it was actually easy for me where everyone else had struggled, but ever since that night, the wolf side of things had been getting harder and harder for me to rein in.

I shook off the guilt though, for the time being at least. My wolf sensed a threat here in the ex-alpha and forced my human form to stand tall, strong and proud in front of him. The wolf was joyful that Sam's injuries made him seem weak to us and seemed even more pleased that we had inflicted said injuries on him. I tried to suppress the self loathing that was surging through my human mind at the thought and focused on the task at hand. "How you doing man?"

He winced as he moved to a more comfortable position. "I'm fine Embry. I'll be healed fully before the night is out. What do you want?" He replied shortly. I couldn't tell if it was because he was pissed at me or in pain. Either way, things had remained fairly calm so far so I thought my words through before speaking them in an attempt to keep it that way.

"I just needed to check on you. Make sure you were ok. I want to apologise bro. I don't know what happened the other night. I just lost control of the wolf. I never meant for you to end up like this. So I'm sorry man."

He simply nodded in reply, his jaw hardened such that I couldn't read his expression.

"So we're cool?" I checked.

He stared at me with black eyes and I watched as anger poured into them giving him a deranged look. He moved deliberately into a sitting position before piercing me with coal eyes. I felt the resentment radiating off him before he even started talking.

"Cool? Are we cool? No we aren't cool man. You ambushed me! Stole my pack from right out under me! We're meant to be brothers! I have given everything to this pack and this is the thanks I get!" He stormed at me, getting more and more enraged the more he talked, before folding at the waist with a grunt of pain.

I felt the indignation rise up in me. He'd given everything? Hell no! All he'd done was take from the pack and treat us all like his own personal array of slaves. I tried to stomp down my anger, not wanting this to escalate like it had the other night so I simply stared Sam down. His eyes got a more and more crazy look to them. I was stunned. It was like I was watching my packmate's mind deteriorate right in front of my eyes. I needed to defuse the situation so I got down at eye level with him and softened my face.

"You need to give it up Sam. I'm alpha now. You need to surrender to the pack. Fully. They need you. We don't work right when we aren't united." I pleaded with him in a soft voice, hoping to calm him down and bring him back into the pack fold all in one swoop. I didn't want to harm the pack for the sake of my pride and as much as I hated to admit it, we truly weren't functioning to our full potential when Sam and Emily weren't around. We needed them to complete our family. Not to mention that having Sam around to run some day patrols would really take the slack off some of the rest of us.

Sam just stared me down with wide eyes. Looking at him now, I actually thought he had gone completely insane. "No. I won't let you take them from me. Emily was right. You're nothing but a power hungry son of a whore." He spat at me in a low, almost whisper. The calmness with which he spoke the venomous words was chilling.

I felt rage rise in me and struggled to keep my human form. "You will not speak about my mother that way ever again." I commanded. I was trying to keep this calm but the wolf was scratching against my skin, not taking the insult against its family very well.

I watched Sam struggle under the weight of my order and felt disgusted in myself as my wolf actually enjoyed watching him squirm. I could feel the fabric of pack tear a little more as Sam, crazed, tried to defy my authority. I briefly entertained the idea of ordering him back into the pack but I knew if I did, the effect of his resentment on the rest of the pack could be catastrophic so I didn't push. He had to come freely.

I heard Emily's fierce footsteps pounding down the hallway and mentally prepared myself to deal with her as Sam sat a little straighter in anticipation of her arrival.

"I told you I wouldn't have you stress him!" She screeched at me. "Can't you see he needs his rest!"

I sighed. As much as the pack needed to be whole, having Emily around was poison to everyone involved. Since meeting her, Sam had slowly but surely become more and more intoxicated by the power of being alpha. He used to be a great leader; never expecting anyone to do anything he wouldn't and always leading with his entire heart. I don't remember him using the alpha order even half as much before he met her. I was glad she wasn't around my pack anymore, wasn't able to corrupt their happiness anymore than she already had. I had tried my best but I was slowly losing control of my wolf the more I listened to both Emily and Sam. They clearly didn't want to be a part of this pack so I decided it was about time to cut my losses and try again another day. As I turned to tell them I was leaving I was cut off by Emily's high pitched voice that was fast becoming the bane of my existence.

"You've already taken everything from us Embry and now you want to stunt Sam's recovery from your barbaric attack too?!" She wailed at me.

The wolf rose in me and I only barely managed to haul him back under control as Emily continued yelling at me. I turned and left the house without a word and I exploded from my skin before I had even left the back porch. I let out a mournful howl and sprinted off into the forest. I needed to get away from them before I turned around and did something I would regret. I could feel the pack bonds slipping through my fingers and the emotions of each of my wolves reflected my loss of control and weighed heavy on me; mind, body and soul. The pack was slowly falling into chaos and the turmoil hit me like a freight train. My wolf raged at me to fix it but I didn't know how.

I felt more than heard Quil's whimper and remembered he must have been patrolling. His anxiety seeped through the pack mind and in a moment of clarity it hit me that I couldn't afford to doubt myself. The pack needed to be able to rely on me to be strong. If I was strong, they would be calm and I would be able to concentrate around their thoughts and feelings. So I hardened my thoughts and tuned out the Sam and Emily issue, quickly deciding to focus on the things I could control. I turned my attention to Quil.

"It's ok man. I'm ok. We're ok. Keep patrolling. You're doing a good job." I soothed him with a confidence that I owned despite my self doubt. I felt as he calmed and refocused on keeping the tribe safe. As he calmed, I noticed the remainder of the pack's emotions soothe aswell and huffed a sigh of relief at being able to think clearly again.

I decided that I needed to concentrate on things that were within my control so I ran for a bit to release some energy and then made my way home to pick up the revised patrol schedule. I told Quil to come by later to get a copy as I phased out.

It was at that point that I realised I had no pants left in the forest outside my house.


	18. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight.**

I could hear my mom padding around in the kitchen so I wasn't really too keen on running through the house butt naked. Just as I was pacing through the forest I heard my mom's voice call out. "Em? Is that you?"

"Yeah Ma! It's me!"

"What are you doing out there?"

"I uh I don't have any pants! You think you could throw some shorts out on the porch for me?"

She giggled. "Yeah. Hold on a sec son!"

I walked back and forth as I waited for mom to return with my pants and only when I was 100 percent sure she had re-entered the house did I make a dash to the porch and slide the shorts over my legs.

I made my way to my mom who was stirring something over the stove. "It smells amazing in here ma. What are you making?" I asked her as I dropped a short kiss on her head.

"Just a little something special for our dinner tonight. You'll see later on" she smiled at me.

"Ok. Well I'll be back in just a little bit ok ma? I'm just gonna go ahead and drop the new roster off to everyone so we can get started on the new schedule."

"Ok son. Dinner will be ready at 6.30. Don't be late." She replied as I grabbed the papers and walked out the door.

I decided I'd walk around the Rez to drop the rosters off to everyone and just enjoy the scenery. I stopped by Jared's place first. His house was on the same street as Jake's and when I walked past that familiar red house I almost went ahead and confronted Billy right there.

I actually walked right up to the front door but I couldn't bring myself to knock so I turned around and continued on my way to Jared's house. I had to think about the pack. Pack was my family now. I was responsible for them and I took that seriously. Billy had known about me for my entire life. He knew where I lived. Hell he'd even taken me out fishing and treated me the same as he treated Jake our whole lives. But still he'd never claimed me. Even after Sarah passed away. I'd waited 17 years to have a father. My pack needed me so I figured I could wait a few more days before confronting Billy while I sorted out the pack.

When I got to Jared's house, Kim answered the door. I was a little surprised to see her here. I knew her family believed the rumours around town that the pack was a gang. They didn't like her being with Jared and had actually forbidden them from being together. I shook off my surprise and greeted her anyway though.

"Hey Kim, what's up?"

She slowly lifted her face so I could see her and I could tell she'd been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy and as much as she had tried to cover it with makeup and a fake smile, she was pack and the alpha in me claimed her as ours so I could see right through it. I instinctually pulled her to me and immediately felt her relax just a little.

"Shit Kimmy what's wrong? Where's Jare?" I asked her as I rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

"He's at work." She sniffled at me. "It's my parents Em. They- they-.." She stuttered.

"What is it Kim? You can tell me." Instinctually, I knew she needed me and I dropped my voice a touch so it was rich and caramel, hoping to persuade her into talking to me.

"They kicked me out. They found out about me and Jared. They know everything!" She wailed.

I immediately stiffened. What did she mean "everything"? Surely they didn't know about the pack. They couldn't. It would be a disaster.

I leaned down a little so I could clearly see her face. The alpha in me came to full attention. "Look at me Kim. I need you to talk to me. What do you mean? What do they know?" My voice oozed comfort but she could obviously hear the serious undertone compelling her to tell me. This alpha mojo stuff was way more potent than I ever imagined.

She cried a little more and then looked up at me through tear-soaked lids before lowly breathing out "the baby. They know about the baby Em."

It was so light that I knew I wouldn't have heard it if I didn't have supernatural hearing. Even so, it felt as though she'd screamed it at me. The shock jolted through my entire body I briefly stepped away from her but when I saw the fear in her eyes I moved back to her. I could feel how protective the wolf was towards her but I thought it was just heightened from taking alpha.

The feelings coming from the wolf had me positive she was talking about her baby but I asked anyway. "Baby? Your baby?"

She simply nodded once in affirmation.

"And Jared? Does he know?"

She shook her head at me. "I just found out today. My mom, she saw the test and started cussing me out. Said I was nothing more than a cheap hussy and I wasn't welcome in her home anymore. That she wanted nothing more to do with me."

Once again, I pulled her to my chest and let her cry on me. The alpha in me had taken charge and somehow strengthened my resolve. I no longer felt any doubt in myself at all. I realised it was because I couldn't afford to anymore. My pack needed me to guide them in their lives. That meant I needed to be strong and confident. No more self flagellation. I had to be good enough for them.

"Oh Kimmy. You're going to be fine. Jared loves you. No matter what. You two will get through this together. And it's not just you two. The pack is your family now. We are all here for you. We will support you."

She calmed down after a little while and looked at me. "You mean that Em?"

"Of course." I reassured her.

She pulled away from me and I thought I actually saw her smile a little. "Thanks Em. I needed that. I'm going to tell Jared as soon as he gets home. I don't want him finding out from someone else and I know it's hard for you guys to keep your thoughts to yourselves when you're phased."

I appreciated that she didn't want me to have to lie to anyone but I realised she would have to deal with this in her own time first. "It's cool Kimmy. I've always been able to keep my thoughts on lockdown and I'm not going to tell anyone so you just do it in your own time yeah?"

She nodded. "I still want him to know though." She smiled at me.

"Of course. So you're ok now?"

She nodded.

"Good. I just came to drop off this new schedule for patrol for Jared. You think I could leave that with you to pass on to him?"

"Sure. Let me grab it."

I handed her the roster and she went to put it on the table before coming back to the door.

"Well I better head off. I still have to get this to everyone else. You call me if you need anything ok? My number's hanging off the Pizza Hut magnet on the fridge."

"I will. Thanks Embry."

I smiled at her and as I turned to leave she called to me.

"Embry? I'm glad you're alpha now. You're going to do a great job."

"Thanks Kimmy. Take care of yourself. That's the first pack baby you've got in there." I winked at her as I left.

I walked down the road and headed towards Paul's house. I stopped on the beach along the way and gathered my thoughts. I knew Jared was going to be thrilled about the baby. Stressed, but thrilled. As alpha, I thought about the impact this would have on the pack as a whole. I actually thought this might be a good thing. Any addition to the pack would be not only welcomed but celebrated, I was sure. Pleased I'd managed to sort through my thoughts I carried on to Paul's house. There was something I wanted to talk to him about while I was there so I refocused on that.

I strolled at a leisurely pace to Paul's house and knocked on the door. A couple of minutes later I heard him stomp to answer it. He opened the door with a scowl on his face. "What do you want?" He snapped at me.

The wolf scratched at me to release him and I tried to shut that shit down before Paul spoke again.

"I'm not gonna stand here all day just cause you're alpha now. Did you want something or what?" He snapped, a condescending tone to his voice.

The wolf demanded punishment for his insubordination and I didn't even want to fight against it. Paul needed to realise he was a part of this pack whether he liked it or not. We'd all been been privy to his memories; a childhood of men coming in and out of his life, beating his mom as well as him. The burn marks he'd received from a particularly sadistic boyfriend his mom had had one year, the extent to which he'd suffered, so we knew why he acted like he did but that didn't mean he could take his shit out on the rest of us.

I squared my shoulders and pinned him with my stare. Paul was a dominant wolf and had an aggressive nature. If I didn't get aggressive with him, he'd never respect my authority. I needed to earn it from him. "Get outside Lahote." I demanded. It was time for him to be pulled back in line. The alpha in me had taken over again and as he stepped onto the porch in front of me, defiant smirk spread over his face despite the strength with which he was trying to defy my desires, I clasped his shoulder with undisguised force and he shuddered away from me. In a deathly calm voice I warned him "you ever talk to me like that again, I'll break your tail." He shuddered at the thought and ever so slightly bowed his head to me.

I cleared my throat. "Right. Now that that's sorted, I came to drop off the new roster."

I handed it to him and he looked it over before turning to go back inside. I grabbed his arm before he shut the door on me.

"Paul. There was something else."

"Yeah?"

"I'm realising I'm not going to have time or energy to focus on school if I'm taking on this pack stuff and I'm starting to think I'm gonna have to get a GED. And I know you promised your grandmother you'd finish school before she died and this wolf shit interfered with that. So I thought maybe you might want to get your GED?"

He began shaking his head before I even finished. "No. I'm not cut out for school shit and it's not gonna help me any anyways. What's the point?" He mumbled, head hung dejectedly.

"If it's passing the test you're worried about, we can help you. Tutoring or something. Look I just thought you might want to do this for your gran. I know how much she meant to you. Think it over. It doesn't have to be right away." I let that sink in for a minute before I spoke again. "Anyway I'm gonna head off yeah?"

He nodded at me. Then, "Em? Thanks man."

I knew he wasn't good at articulating emotions and a simple thanks was like a hug coming from Paul so I just grinned at him and left.

I had been meaning to take the roster to everyone but I noticed it was getting late and I was really looking forward to this dinner with mom so I just headed for home instead, pleased with my progress with the pack today. I knew I had a long way to go but I'd made a start.


	19. Chapter 18

**AN: **Hey guys! Thank you so so so much for all your patience and I'm really sorry there's been such a long wait so the wrote this second chap out for you guys today in an attempt to regain your favour. Thanks for all the reviews last time around and I'm really hoping for a few more this time but as usual, I totally understand if you don't review. Anyhow, enjoy this installment and I'm hoping to get another up in the next few days. Read and review guys (:

* * *

**Disclaimer: SM owns twilight.**

I headed for home, excited to spend some quality time with my mom. I'd really missed her recently and was happy she knew the truth now and was back on my team. I knew it was going to make running this pack so much easier to not be worrying about my mom on top of everything else.

In the back of my mind I could feel the pack, each of their emotions swirling around in my mind, each competing for my attention and I vaguely wondered if their feelings were impacting on mine or whether my mood was influencing theirs. It was strange having them there constantly, even when I wasn't phased and the sheer weight of it was starting to give me a headache. I tried to tune it all out but found that I couldn't. I guess this was all just part and parcel of being alpha. I thought it would come naturally but in all honesty, it was actually much harder than I had anticipated. I'd only been alpha for a few short days and I already felt emotionally drained.

I guess I hadn't really realised before how fucked up we all were: Paul was so angry. Frankly, I didn't know how he even functioned with the amount of pain he was carrying around. I hadn't realised it before but now I was more in tune with my pack I could feel it. Jared and Kim were about to be parents before she had even graduated high school. As much as it was going to be a blessing, I worried as to how we were all going to cope with it. Jake, I didn't even know where to start with Jake. He'd thought he had the perfect childhood before his mom passed away but all that was tumbling down on him now. With Bella drama chucked in on top of all that, I wasn't sure how much more his naturally sunny outlook on life could withstand and already, I felt the cracks emerging in his psyche. Quil had imprinted on a 2 year old. Even he thought that was perverted and wrong. I had caught the odd suicidal thought from him that only just barely scraped through because in all reality, he couldn't do it. It would hurt little Claire too much and there's no way his wolf would allow it. He was being torn apart from the inside out by the clash between his desires and his wolf's needs. Seth and Leah had lost their father because of this cursed life that had been thrust upon them so unexpectedly. They were both still struggling not only with the grief sustained from the loss of their father but with trying to keep their mother together as well. And then of course there was Sam and Emily.

After being alpha for even such a short time as I had been, I could see clearly how Sam had lost it so completely. I was born for this. I was specifically designed to run this shit and I still felt like I was treading the tight rope over the precipice that would have me fall to my own personal hell of insanity. How he had managed to keep us all in line, and not lose it before now was beyond me. The only thing pushing me through this was my innate ability to instinctually know what to do when shit was hitting the fan and yet still I was struggling to bear the weight of everybody's problems, everybody's pain and keep the tight balance steady between feeling my own emotions and keeping my shit together so the pack could still remain functional.

I hadn't really noticed it before, with being so busy for the past few days but I could sense the pack's emotions all the time. If I really focused, I could even isolate where certain emotions were coming from. The anger burning through me was all Paul and it was killing me a little to feel the pain beneath it. He was my wolf and he shouldn't have to feel that shit anymore. I tried to send out some reassurance to him and felt it dampen down a little. On top of the Molotov cocktail of hormones blazing through my body that made me feel like I was jacked up on crack half the time, his anger was slowly but surely pushing me closer and closer to the edge of my sanity and that was the last thing I needed.

I experimented a little with my newfound insight into my pack on the way home and found that the only one I couldn't feel was Leah. I didn't have long to ponder that though before I was assaulted by the wafting scents of delicious food as I paced up my front pathway. Smelled like mom had really gone all out tonight. I couldn't wait to demolish it all.

I called out as I stepped through the front door. "Ma? I'm home!"

"Come through to the kitchen. I've got a surprise for you!" She called back to me.

I instantly perked up and made my way through to the kitchen, where it smelt like heaven rolled in sugar, mouth watering and stomach rumbling.

As soon as I stepped through the door I spied a giant cheesecake sitting on the table.

"I know you might find it hard to forgive me but I'm sorry we didn't celebrate your last birthday the same as we have every year. I thought maybe we could have a do-over tonight? I even made your favourite. White chocolate cheesecake. We'll eat it before dinner?"

I was stunned that she had done this for me and it truly hit home that she really would be on my side in all this just like she had been the rest of my life, that we could actually get that relationship back. I walked over to her and engulfed her in a giant hug.

"Than you ma. This is the best thing you've ever done."

"Come on kiddo. Let's eat!" She grinned at me.

We dug into the cheesecake, mom having a piece and me gulping down the rest before eating dinner. It was the best time I'd spent with my mom in over a year and I really enjoyed it. I told her all about being a wolf and what it meant now that I was alpha. We even talked about me getting my GED. She wasn't happy about me dropping out of school but I think she understood that with so much else on my plate I wasn't going to be able to keep up my grades and it wasn't worth trying when my attention would be best used elsewhere. She suggested Paul sit his GED too and beamed at me when I explained that I'd already spoken to him about it earlier and he was thinking on it.

Then, after we had finished dinner and had been talking for a while, she pulled out a parcel from the cupboard. "I know it isn't actually your birthday Embry and really I was saving this for your 21st birthday but I just felt like now was the time for you to have this," she told me as she placed it down in front of me. Again, I was stunned. She was really making an effort here to make up for everything.

I began to unwrap it and was taken aback when I saw it. It was a watch. A fancy watch.

"This belonged to my father. I know he would have wanted for you to have this son. I took it yesterday and had it customised so that it would stretch to over double the size if it needed to. I figured that would mean you could wear it and not have to worry about it when you go all wolfy."

I was speechless. It took me a while but I finally figured out how to speak again. "Ma! Thanks! I don't even know what to say. This is awesome!"

"Well, you deserve it son. You've earned this and I'm proud of you," she smiled at me.

Afterwards, she helped me put it on and we talked and caught up on life while we did the dishes.

I looked out the window and as the dusky blue-black shades began to settle over the evening sky I felt my concern at Leah's absence begin to take flight and spiral into an out of control panic. I noticed the anxiety levels begin to rise among the pack and realised I needed to haul my errant feelings into line. I was beginning to see just how much the pack relied upon me, as their alpha, to be a stable, calming influence and was unsure as to how Sam had dealt with this for so long. So I focused on the fact that Seth would be walking her home and reassured myself that she would be fine.

I couldn't wait to see her and tell her all about my day and what my mom had done for me and hear about how her dinner with Seth had gone. It actually took me by surprise the force with which I was missing her. In a short period of time I had come to depend on her presence and it shook me a little to not have seen her much today. I needed to reconnect with her and if she didn't come home soon my wolf was about to start insisting I go out in search for her.

I finished up with the dishes and went to take a quick shower. With everything that had been going on recently I needed to take some time to mull things over so I figured I might as well get clean while I did it. I turned the shower on to heat up before I went to grab a shirt and some shorts from my room.

The minute I stepped inside my room I was bombarded with her scent. Leah. God I missed her. I wished she would hurry up and come home to me. Soon, I promised myself. She'd be home soon.

I steeped into the shower and let the lukewarm water run over my shoulders before dipping my head under the nozzle. As I felt the dirt wash off of my body, it felt as though a little of the tension went with it and my mind began to wander. I thought back to the moments I shared with Leah this morning. The smooth feel of her flesh in my hand, the slight give when I kneaded it with my palms, the light, wanting feel of her caress across my back, the way she had kissed me back with full force when my wolf had pushed me to dominate her. I found I couldn't stop replaying it over and over in my mind's eye. Fuck. I needed her. Right now. My erection was standing proudly, having risen to full attention at the mere thought of what I'd done with Leah earlier and I knew I was going to have to take care of it before I did anything else.

Just as I went to wrap my fingers around my hard member, a pain unlike any other I'd ever experienced gripped my heart with full force. I fell against the shower wall, one arm bracing myself against it, the other hand gripping frantically at my chest in an unsuccessful attempt at ripping the pain away. I don't know how but I knew immediately that it was Leah, that she needed me. Call it instinct, intuition, whatever. All I knew was I had to find her, now.

I pushed the pain to the back of my mind and stumbled out of the shower, quickly making my way to the nearest exit, uncaring of my state of undress and bounded to the nearest piece of forestry my eyes could zone in on. Before I had even fully crossed through the borderline of trees, I had given myself to the wolf, let him rip from my body with the crackle of bones and bending of tissue and given him complete rein to find his mate.

The wolf was going crazy, thrashing through the forest, in a frantic mission to find her. Trees were simply obstacles to go through, not around. I felt rather than heard when everyone else had phased in, obviously in a state of sheer panic at the level of my distress as my own wolf simply continued in its rampage, oblivious to the needs of its pack. I finally caught a hint of her scent and scrambled after it, nose to the ground, dead focused on the sole tasking of finding her.

I bounded through the forest for what felt like hours but must only have been a matter of minutes before I heard her groaning out my name. The raspy voice in which she called for me broke my heart and spoke volumes to the pain she was in. In a second wind powered solely by the driving need to get to her, I doubled my speed and within seconds her tattered form came into my field of vision. I ran to her and sniffed her over as she wept, before shifting back to man. She had three deep gashes across her abdomen, exposed through her torn shirt and again, my imprint's body was covered in bruises. She moaned in pain.

"Leah baby, what happened? Look at me. I need to know what happened to you."

She just shook her head at me. "Need help Em. Get help."

I was at a loss. I almost didn't know what to do. Jake's wolf ran into the clearing I'd created in my mission to get to Leah and I snapped at him. The wolf wouldn't have any other male around her right now. Couldn't.

"Get out of here Jake. Make sure nobody else comes here but Seth. Go tell my mum to get her first aid kit ready. Tell her Leah's down and I need her fixed."

He stared blankly at me and let out a low whine. I didn't have the time or patience for that shit.

"Now Jake. Get the fuck out of here." It was an order that time.

I turned back to Leah.

"I'm going to try and lift you alright baby? You scream if it hurts too much ok?"

She was losing consciousness quickly but I saw her nod anyway. I settled her neck in my arm and slid my other arm under her body before lifting her as gently as I could. She let out a light groan but it wasn't too bad so I kept moving. I moved with more grace then I knew I even commanded to keep her as steady as possibly while I ran her through the forest and back to my house, hoping like hell that mum had taken this seriously and had all her shit ready to go because I wasn't about to lose Leah today. She had to be fixed.


	20. Chapter 19

**AN: **Hey guys! So I tried to get this out as quick as I could so please forgive any errors (grammatical, spelling etc.) that you may find. I'm planning on doing a big fix up when it's complete so it will be dealt with in fair time. I'm gonna say here that this is a chapter I'm sure you've been waiting for and I do hope you enjoy it. Trust me when I say that everything I do is for a reason and please don't hate me at the end! Thanks so much for all the reviews last time! Not only is it the most I've ever received for a chapter, but they were also just the nicest and most helpful I've gotten so far and I immensely appreciate it so keep it up guys! I'll be posting another AN at the bottom so sorry for the long ass chat here and enjoy the update. Until next time, take care. Nikita x

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own twilight, just like switching up SM's characters (:**

Finally the house came into view and I was glad to see my orders had been diligently followed. Nobody had tried to find me and the pack had turned up in full force to support their sister. All five of my wolves stood sentry in my backyard waiting for our arrival, complete disregard for anyone who might see them. I could feel the anxiety flowing off them in waves. It was a tangible, physical presence that encased us all in a tense dome of stress and nerves. Mixed in with the impatient agitation caused by the adrenaline high we faced on a daily basis, it was a recipe for disaster.

Until now, I hadn't quite grasped the dependency we all had on each other. Despite the bitchiness Leah dealt out to the pack on a regular basis, it was clear that she was important to each and every one of us. The worry that was barrelling at me from the pack testified to the care they each held for her. Even if they wouldn't admit it out loud, the simple fact that they were here in her greatest moment of need was telling enough.

Leah let out a small grunt, that I recognised as pain and I about lost my mind. I was going to hunt down whatever or whoever did this to her and make sure they could never hurt her like this again.

My body was torn between taking off for the hunt now and looking after Leah. The wolf couldn't understand such emotions as the ones flowing through my body, the need for me to be there until I knew for sure she would be fine. The wolf understood pack and pain and vengeance and was pumping the adrenaline though me, making it hard to deny the urge to hunt. Before I really went to war with my own mind, I felt a surge of will power flow through me. Confused, I looked around and locked eyes with Jake. I realised my pack was sending me their support and instantly shoved the wolf back into his box, with a breathy sigh of relief, before he could take over my body.

The sandy wolf slightly off to my left approached us and gently licked the exposed bruise on his sister's leg before backing away with a low whine. I recognised that he wanted me to get her to help now and I looked away from him and saw my mom emerge onto the deck.

"What's wrong with her? What the hell happened?" She screamed at me.

I needed her to calm down so she could fix my Leah so I stared intently into her eyes and tried on some alpha mojo. "Ma, I don't know. I found her in the forest like this. I need you to calm down and fix her. I need you ma. Can you help me? You can fix her right?" I implored her, a hint of a command laced into my comforting tone.

I couldn't tell if she had responded to my wolf's dominant nature or if her nursing training had really come in handy, either way I didn't care. The desired result was achieved. It was like she flipped a switch and she was in professional mode. "Ok. I've set up in your room. Get her to the bed, quick, and I'll see what I can do."

I nodded, a tense sigh of relief slipping past my lips as I made my way to the bedroom. I lightly deposited her onto our bed as gently as I could. She made a small noise in the back of her throat that I took to mean she was in pain and the vice tightened on my heart once again. Before I could blink, mom had pushed me out of the way with a short remark that I should probably put some pants on.

I pulled on the nearest pair of cut offs I could find before getting as close as I could to keep vigil over my mom's shoulder. I frantically watched as she worked on my imprint, fixing her up, until finally she got sick of me and snapped. "That's it! I can't work with you on my shoulder Embry! Go wait outside!"

I puffed up defiantly where I stood. I couldn't leave Leah like this. Even if I had the strength to, I wouldn't. Surely as my mother, she understood that. She let out a deep sigh. "At least go take a seat in the corner. She's not good and I'm gonna need to stitch her all up. I can't work with you hanging over my shoulder like you are."

I wanted to give Leah the best chance for recovery so I stepped back, even though the alpha in me rose to the surface at the fact that I had submitted to another's command. I dropped my head into my hands as I fell into the seat.

I heard my mom lightly whisper a thank you to me, then she got to work. Every time Leah moaned in pain, it hit me hard. Right in the chest. The pain soothed me ever so slightly. I had let this happen to her. It was only fair I feel this suffering right there with her. I tried to take it all from her but it didn't work like that. If I could, I'd give anything in this world to bear her pain in her stead. But I couldn't so I just sat there and agonised with her. Occasionally, the wolf would try to burst out of his box again and with greater and greater difficulty each time, I would stomp him back down. Leah needed me. I wasn't about to let her down for the second time tonight by leaving her side when she needed me most.

I watched my mom work on Leah with a level focus I had never reached before, beating myself up all the while. Finally, after what seemed like light years, I heard for myself the slight change in her heartbeat. It had calmed down a little and sounded, to me at least, to be beating stronger. I relished in the simple sound of life rushing through her, the greatest thing if ever heard, I was sure. My mom stepped back from Leah, and turned to face me. "I think she's going to be okay son. There's no internal bleeding, only bruising and the gashes. I've stitched her up and I'm sure that with her accelerated healing rate, she's going to be just fine in a few days. I've set up an IV drip and I gave her a little something so she'll be able to sleep for a bit, she needs the rest to heal Embry, but she will be okay."

I nodded at her, not allowing myself the luxury of believing that she was in the clear just yet.

"I've taken some time off work so I'll be back in a few hours to check on her. Come and get me if anything changes with her ok?"

Again, I found I had the strength only to nod and sensing that she would get no more from me, mom walked away and left my room.

I walked over to the bed and sat on the floor next to Leah. The freakishly large body I now consumed thanks to this new role I'd been 'blessed' with meant I was still able to look down on her, even whilst sitting on the floor. She looked somewhat peaceful in her sleep despite the marks spread across her beautiful body and that helped me to keep my head just a little bit. I leaned down and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "I'm so sorry Leah. I'm so sorry I let this happen to you. When you wake up and tell me who did this to you, and you will tell me, I'm going to rip them to shreds and they'll never touch you again baby girl. I swear it." It was an oath cut from the very fabric of my soul, imbued with the strength of the love I held for her - greater, I knew, than any other love ever to have existed and sealed with the honour of the ancestors whose blood ran through my veins.

As I spoke it, I knew the pledge came not only from me, but from my wolf and that mysterious alpha presence that was inside of me somewhere. It was the first time I had felt truly like one person since that first phase. It was pure peace. My being felt whole where normally my body was being torn in three different directions. I indulged myself in the peace of this moment before I let my mind start ticking away again, my eyes never leaving Leah's form.

Before long I heard the sound of approaching footfalls and I knew the pack had come to see their fallen sister. Naturally, Seth was first through the door. My room wasn't big enough for more of us so the rest waited in the hallway.

"Em?" He asked tentatively. I reluctantly tore my eyes away from my imprint's broken body and looked at him with dead eyes. "Your mom said it should be ok to come in and see her now. Is she okay?" I heard the fear in his voice. It pained me as much as it did to feel any kind of distress within my pack and I added it to my seemingly endless list of failures.

As much as I didn't want to, I stood up from my spot next to Leah and gave Seth a clap on the back before going to stand at the end of the bed. I, above all, knew the calming effect touch had on my wolves. We truly were lupine creatures, in our human forms as much as when we occupied our four legged counterparts. Seth quickly took up the seat I had just vacated for him and pressed a kiss to his sister's forehead before looking back at me with pleading eyes. "Mom says she'll be fine Seth. Her heartbeat's strong and steady, it hasn't stuttered yet. She's going to come out of this." And as I said it, I almost couldn't tell if it was him I was trying to convince, or myself.

The furrow between his eyebrows flattened out ever so slightly and I knew I'd convinced him that she would be fine. He relaxed a little and we sat together simply watching her for a while before a voice broke the silence.

"Hey guys! It's a little cramped out here and Paul's getting antsy- ow! Fuck Paul! Ahh you think we could maybe come in and see her?" It didn't come as a surprise to me that even in a situation like this, Quil had major trouble keeping his mouth shut. If things weren't so serious, I may have even laughed at his lack of social grace.

I looked over to Seth and he nodded at me. "Ok come through guys. One at a time."

Jake was the first one in. He swiftly made his way over to Leah's healing body and slid the back of his hand across her cheek. The wolf wanted to rip his arm off just for touching her but the man in me understood that he had simply needed to reconnect with his injured pack sister so I summoned all my strength (what little was left anyway) and shoved him down. After he had reassured himself that she was on the mend he manoeuvred his way through the limited space in my room and made his way over to the corner where I stood.

He came right up next to me and slapped my bare shoulder. "She's gonna be okay bro." He stated with such conviction, I almost found myself believing it. He looked me straight in the eye and seemed to hesitate before speaking again. "When you're ready, I need a word with you? Alone? No rush though."

I stared him down, trying to ascertain how important this was. There wasn't any panic on his face so I assumed it wasn't of too much importance. "Sure man. I'll come out soon."

He simply nodded before giving Seth a pat on the back and leaving.

Jared came through after Jake had left and with a simple touch of her arm, reconnected with Leah before giving Seth a word of support and making his departure with a wave to me.

The last two followed through more or less the same as Jared had and then it was just Seth, Leah and I again. I heard the guys settle just through the border of the forest as close as they could get to the window after they had left. We sat with her in silence for a couple of hours before mom came in to check on Leah. She looked her over, checked on her heart rate and blood pressure and made sure the wounds weren't going to get infected. The tension in the room was palpable as Seth and I watched on. I could hear that mine wasn't the only heart racing in anxiety.

Finally, mom got done checking her over and she told us that everything looked fine and she would be back in a little while to check her again. Before she left, she all but begged us to leave and get some rest but it wasn't happening. Seth politely refused and if I left this room it definitely wouldn't be to rest. Mom must have sensed I didn't want to leave and turned to speak directly to me.

"If you need to do something, I can sit here with her and Seth. If anything changes I'll send someone to get you. I know the guys are just out in the forest. They'll be able to find you quickly enough right?"

I hesitated. Mom took my moment of weakness to press her point. "Some Kim came by and dropped off a bunch of food earlier. The guys have had some but I knew you two wouldn't be interested until you knew she was ok. She's going to be ok. So how about I sit here, you go bring Seth's plate to him and eat yours then go ahead and do whatever you need to do?"

I sighed before finally relenting. I desperately needed to speak to Jake and I wasn't sure it could wait any longer plus I knew Seth must be starving by now. I got out of the chair and headed through to the kitchen. I pulled Seth's plate from the fridge, deciding against eating my own until everything had been resolved, and chucked it in the microwave. While I waited for it to heat, I stuck my head out the back door and looked for Jake. I spotted his russet form, pacing along the boundary of the forest and called out to him. "Jake. I need to talk to you. Tell the others to go patrol. I'll be out in a sec."

He sent me back an almost imperceptible nod to make sure I knew he'd heard and I walked back to the microwave just as it dinged ready.

I took Seth's plate down to him. He perked up just a touch at the scent of the food and thanked me heartily before quickly digging in and scoffing back the food on his plate. I looked at my mom. She looked exhausted and as much as I hated to put more on her shoulders, I couldn't leave without being absolutely sure I'd be here if Leah needed me. "You'll send for me as soon as anything changes. At all. Good, bad, I don't care. Her state begins to change, I need to know about it. Send Seth, the others are gone."

"Yeah. I will son. Now go. Do what you need to do."

I made my way over to Leah and pressed a kiss to her cheek and breathed out a short goodbye to her. "You're gonna be fine baby. Just wake up for me k? Wake up, and I'll be here." I pulled away from her and left before I could change my mind.

I burst out the back door, finally allowing myself to feel all the anger, sadness, and confusion I'd been suppressing (albeit not very well) since I found Leah earlier that night. As I crossed info the forest I had the clarity of mind to at least take a second to remove my shorts before I burst out of my skin. The wolf, having finally gained control of my body thrashed around in rage, taking down a few trees before I noticed how much it was ramping up the pack and calmed that shit down. I quickly scanned through the pack mind and made sure everyone was doing what they were meant to be doing before my gaze flicked over to Jake's form, casually approaching me with my discarded shorts held out in front of him.

I phased back, and pulled the shorts back on as I spoke to my brother. "What did you want to talk about before Jake?"

He averted his eyes from mine and I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Come on Jake, spit it out."

"I uh, look man I don't want to put anymore crap on your shoulders, I know you've got a lot going on but I was thinking of finally going home" I figured where he was going with this and went to tell him I couldn't, not with Leah in the state she was in but he cut me off before I could get the words out. "Not right now, when we know Leah really is going to be fine. I just, would you come with me man? I feel like this is something we should do together. It's been a while since we found out about Billy and I don't know about you but I'm about ready to get some answers. And I feel like we should do it together. As brothers."

I took a second to think it over. I had been so caught up with all the pack stuff going on recently, and trying to sort through things with Leah, that I'd well and truly pushed Billy to the bottom of my to do list. I really didn't want to deal with all my daddy issues while there was so much else going on but I sensed that Jake wanted me to do this with him, not for myself, but more so that he simply needed some support in this. And in all honesty, there was never going to be a perfect time to get it over with so I might as well try and get it out of the way as soon as I could. If it meant helping Jake at the same time then that was something I thought I should do for him after everything he'd done for me recently.

"Yeah man, of course I'll go with you. As soon as mom gives Leah the all clear we'll go see Billy yeah?"

He nodded then seemed to hesitate before responding to me. "Em? I know it's not really my place but uh, what's going on with you and Leah?"

I felt a surge of anger rush through me at the question. What did it matter to him? Why did he need to know anything about my Leah. She was mine. I let out a growl before I could even think it through and he jumped to explain himself.

"I haven't seen you like this ever bro and I've known you my entire life. Just seems like there's something there. Something that could be perfection. I suppose what I'm trying to say is, did you imprint on her?"

I felt the anger ebb away. I should've known there was no hidden agenda there. Jake was my brother, had been since even before the discovery of my parentage and continued to be now. Of course he didn't feel anything for Leah but purely platonic care and love. Not to mention the fact that my imprint on her would have acted as a sexual repellant on any member of my pack. It was the one thing about imprinting that was actually completely logical. Any imprinted wolf wouldn't be able to stand even the slightest hint of romantic feelings towards his imprint from a pack brother. It would inevitably lead to a fight to the death and I was glad that the spirits, gods and whoever else was guiding us through this cluster fuck of a situation had at the very least gifted us with the peace of mind that we faced no competition for mates within our pack. If one of the pack had to kill another, the lasting ripples would be far too damaging to the whole to actually allow us to function as a family unit ever again.

I realised I had lost myself in my thoughts and when I gained some semblance of sentience again, I nodded at Jake before clearing my throat. "Yeah man. That first day when they phased. I was the first one there. I saw her bent over Harry's body and when she finally looked up at me, bam. I was gone." I began to pace restlessly back and forth. "She didn't want it though. I mean she never said it, but she didn't have to. I felt it. She was still too hung up on Sam, too wound up in her grief, I just couldn't dump this on her too."

"Seems like you're getting closer though. I mean, by the looks of things the other day, it seems to be going well" he consoled me, a hint of amusement in his voice. I could almost hear the teasing smirk he wore on his face. "You should tell her Em. As soon as she wakes up." He implored.

"I want to! So bad! But you know what she thinks of imprinting, she'll run a mile!" I sighed as I ran my fingers through the mess of hair on my head. "Not to mention the fact that I must be the worst imprint in the history of imprints! I can't believe I let her get hurt like this. How the fuck did I let this happen!" I yelled, my frustration finally getting the better of me as I punched a nearby tree.

Jake cautiously approached me. "It might be hard to start with, but she'll come around man. You'll never know if you don't tell her. Besides, I think you'd be surprised with her reaction. As for whoever of whatever did this to her. It won't ever happen again. We'll find them, we'll kill them and she won't ever be hurt again." It was such a fierce vow that only reinforced my earlier thoughts of how much Leah meant to the pack, how much we all meant to each other.

I could tell Jake still had something else to say so I simply waited for him to come out with it.

Finally, he let out a sigh. "There was one more thing. The Cullens are back." He told me, head hung. He looked like someone had kicked his puppy. I pieced it together.

"She went back to him huh?"

He nodded.

"She'll be back man, and if she doesn't, well then you can do better." I patted him on the back. There wasn't much else I could do for him. This was just going to be one of those things he had to get himself through.

I looked up at the dawn sky, quickly illuminating from the typical dark blue-black hues of nighttime to a more pale ocean colour, indicating that the entire night had passed since I'd found Leah. I suddenly felt the urge to return to her side. "Come on man. We better get back. I need to check on Leah."

We walked back to the house and just as it came into view, Seth burst through the front door, frantically looking around the back yard. I immediately began running and felt Jake break into a run right there with me. Seth spotted us and called out. "Quick. She's waking up. She's asking for you Em."

I bolted through the door and ran straight to my room. I ducked through the doorway and immediately Leah turned to me. I promptly made my way over to her and deposited a light kiss on her forehead. "Jesus Leah. Don't ever scare me like that again. Are you okay?"

She nodded as she reached over to the bedside table and took a giant sip of water that somebody, I assumed my mom, had put there for her. "Feeling better now. Tons better." I felt myself release a breath I didn't even know I'd been holding. I still had to check for myself though.

I stared her dead in the eyes. "You sure?" I asked as I looked her over for myself. She nodded tiredly, but admittedly with much more spark than I'd been expecting. Her heartbeat sounded stronger too. She was definitely on the mend. I finally took notice of my mom at the end of the bed and made my way over to her. "How do you think she's doing?" I asked her as I wrapped her in a quick hug and dropped a short kiss on the top of her head.

"Good. She's recovering well. Quickly. Looks like she'll be fine, fully healed in two days max."

I squeezed her just a little harder, with a quick whisper, "thanks ma. You don't know how much this means to me."

She smiled widely at me as she pulled away, an amused expression pulling up at the edges of her face. "Oh I think I know just how much this means to you son." She said with slightly raised eyebrows as she left the room, giving us some privacy. I let out a hard laugh as I turned back to Leah. I sat down on the floor next to her.

Her eyes had started to flutter shut again, and I hated to do it but I needed to speak to her right now. "Leah? Baby can you wake up for me real quick?"

Her eyes stayed shut but I could tell she was awake so I began to speak anyway. "I need to know who did this to you Leah. Will you tell me?"

She opened her eyes, and I could sense a pleading in them that I didn't quite understand. All I knew was that she wouldn't talk to me. I sighed deeply. I really didn't want to do this but she had left me no choice. I needed to know who to hunt down for this, for daring to touch my imprint. "I'm sorry Leah." I let my most sincere feelings leak through my eyes and bore into hers before summoning the alpha to the surface. "Leah, tell me who did this to you." The deep, regal voice that spoke through my body made it clear. This was an order, not a request.

Again, she let those gorgeous emeralds of hers plead with me, a pained expression sneaking onto her face that made me melt. I almost revoked that order on the spot but I couldn't. This was the only way to know the truth and stop her from ever being hurt like this again.

The moment I saw the desperate look in her eyes, I knew it. I knew who had done this to Leah. I'd scented it when I found her earlier that night but I'd been hoping and praying that there was some kind of explanation. I saw it for myself though, in one heart breaking, hope shattering look in her eyes that there wasn't any kind of explanation except that he had hurt my Leah. In hindsight, it made a lot of things make sense. It raised more questions than it answered, yes, but still clues that I previously hadn't noticed started to flood my mind, clearing up bits and pieces of the story. Truth be told, I knew I'd noticed but I simply refused to believe that the pieces would fit together that way.

She didn't need to speak it aloud for me to know, but she did anyway. The pain was evident across her face, I couldn't quite tell if it was pain at the memory of the incidents or pain at the thought of what I would do to him but it broke me up inside either way. And with one raspy, jagged word, a frail hope I'd been hanging onto with a naive intensity since I'd taken control of this pack shattered before me. It was lighter than a breath, shorter than a heart beat but life altering none the less.

"Sam."

* * *

So there it is! Predictable, I know but there's a whole lot more I'm going to be exploring there so stick with me! I hope you guys enjoyed this. Let me know if you did! Hell, let me know if you didn't! Thanks for reading (:


	21. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own twilight**

With that one word, life changed forever. My body was torn.

_Rage. Anger. Vengeance. Kill kill kill. Imprint. Stay. Help. Needs me. Must kill. Bite. Claw. Kill him. Need her._

I was losing it. I was seriously going out of my fucking mind.

I looked into Leah's eyes and took from them the strength I needed to shove the madness in my mind away for 10 seconds. That was all I could manage. "Go back to sleep Leah. I'll be here when you wake up again. Promise." And with that her tired eyes fluttered closed and her battered body, still the most gorgeous thing I'd ever laid eyes on, relaxed into a state of calm rest.

As soon as I had assured myself she would be ok, I stormed out of my bedroom, my thoughts consumed by the sheer destruction I was about to unleash. I knew by now that I had no choice. The wolf would take revenge on the poor soul who had marred my imprint not only physically, but emotionally too. I didn't even make it out of the house before I lost it again. I slammed my fist through the hallway wall in frustration, releasing a ragged curse with a roar as I did so, before sprinting out the back and letting the wolf tear from my skin. I was so far out of my mind that it didn't even register the fact that I'd just shred my last pair of pants. Even if I'd had the presence of mind to compute it, I wouldn't have cared that I would have to go shopping some time soon. At that stage I wouldn't care if I had to walk around naked for the rest of my life, I needed to let my wolf out. I was in physical pain in my human form. I'd never before felt so great a need to assume my lupine morphology.

I bounded into the forest and ran for my life towards Sam and Emily's house as I tried like hell to hold back the madness my wolf was trying to unleash upon me, in a vain attempt to shield the pack from the fallout that I just knew instinctually would be deadly. The fallout that could be the downfall of us all. I tried so hard. I tried, and failed.

Voices sounded in my mind, chaotic, confused.

"What's happening?"

"She's ok?"

"Where are you going?"

The dam began to crack and slices of what was running through my mind began to slip through, bared for them all to see.

Her dead eyes when I asked her what had happened.

Her limp body when I first found her.

The searing pain in my chest as I watched my mom try to fix her.

_Scratch. Bite. Rip. Kill._

More voices. Confusion at the images I was unwillingly revealing to them.

"Who?"

"Where's he going?"

"Gotta stop him."

"Catch him."

As the confusion multiplied seemingly exponentially, the cracks in my psyche deepened and I began to let more slip through despite my best efforts not to.

The gashes strewn across her body, so similar to the scars on another's face. The scars we all knew so well.

The pleading reluctance written all over her face as I ordered her to talk to me.

The fist squeezing my heart as I felt the sheer pain of betrayal coming off of her following said order.

_Revenge. Slice. Strike. Kill._

More confusion. More chaos. Voices running around in circles in my head. Images of me running away. I could feel them chasing me. I could almost see the mental dam collapse entirely as the images exploded through their minds, effectively drowning out any other thought running through the pack with the strength of the memories that were fresh in my own mind.

The sinking feeling in my gut at the scent I picked up on her when I found her in the forest.

The skipped beat of my heart as sickening realisation settled upon me.

The pain in her eyes as she named her abuser.

Sam.

_Attack. Punish. Avenge. Kill. Kill. Kill._

Silence.

A single moment of silence before the pack erupted.

Snarls tore through the crisp morning air. Rage. Then came the howls. Sadness. We were all running back and forth between the emotions. Anger at the mere thought of someone daring to touch Leah. Sadness at the identity of the perpetrator, at the fact that our brother could do this, the thought of what I would do to him.

The pack was rearing for the fight. The fight to right the wrong done to their sister. And yet at the same time they were agonising over it. This was a giant fucked up mess and I had already been losing my mind without the addition of their muddled emotions on top of my own. Their rage was feeding mine, mine was feeding theirs. I couldn't even tell anymore. Their apprehension at the upcoming task was piling on mine and mine was piling on theirs. Shit was fucked up and the only thing I was sure on, the one thing I knew was that Sam was in for one hell of a beating.

I heard a whimper sound from behind me as the thought crossed my mind with an accompanying image of a beaten Sam. Broken and bruised the way he'd left Leah. The noise enraged me beyond belief and I rounded on the pack behind me. I knew from the thoughts in the pack mind who it was and I snapped at him.

The man, the wolf, and the alpha were in harmony as I snarled at Jared. "He fucking beat her! He had no fucking right to touch her and he deserves the world of pain that's coming his way!" I mind screamed at him, teeth bared and growls erupting from my chest as he bowed before me and began to back away. "He broke her heart and treated her like shit. And then, after he's diminished her sheer existence for this whole time, broken her down mentally and emotionally, he fucking ambushed her in the forest and beat the ever living crap out of her! Slashed her and scarred her! He dared touch not only a female but the most sacred of females in our histories! She is a fucking wolf and she's mine. I will have revenge and if anyone here has a problem with it they can take it up with me now!" I spat the words out and they all backed down. Exactly as I thought they would.

I turned my back on them and sprinted through the forest again. I was so close to him. We can't have been more than a couple miles out from Sam and Emily's and I mentally prepared myself for what was about to go down. I didn't want to hesitate when I got there. I couldn't afford to give him any kind of chance to get the upper hand on me. He was still out of his fucking mind and a deranged wolf was dangerous. I thought peripherally that it was a good thing I was bordering on the edge of insanity too.

I shoved aside any and all of these murky human emotions and thoughts and embraced the beast entirely. The wolf would defend his imprint and take out this threat to her safety. The man wasn't sure he could cause his brother the pain he wanted to. The man was bound by emotions and duties and ties that eluded the wolf. The wolf answered only to imprint and alpha and seen as I was alpha, the wolf's sole responsibility was to Leah. I needed to hand everything over to the animal side of me if I wanted to really teach Sam his lesson. And I did. He may be my brother but he needed to be put back in his box. Him and his imprint had caused too much drama for this pack and I was through with it. I'd had enough.

I hauled ass through the forest, leaving the pack in my dust, driven by the knowledge that I was close and only getting closer to Sam, uncaring of the fact that the light of day was quickly approaching and anyone could easily stumble across this wolf fight. The urge to obliterate the threat to my imprint was too strong, too consuming to care for such trivial matters as letting the secret out.

In a matter of two short minutes I was skidding to a halt in the forest in Sam and Emily's backyard. I let loose a howl and skulked around through the forest as I waited on Sam's arrival. I knew I'd have his attention. A call that close to home, not a single one of us could ignore it. Instinct simply wouldn't allow it.

Sure enough, Sam came bursting through the door just as the pack arrived, flanking me. A perplexed frown crossed his face as he stripped his shorts and phased, crossing the tree line. I felt his confused, yet angry presence enter the pack mind.

His appearance alone caused an uprising of my wolf.

_Bite. Scratch. Kill._

The chant repeated in my mind over and over.

"What is this?" He asked as he stepped to me, neck raised slightly to look into my eyes, pelt bristled, teeth bared, ears up, the epitome of an offensive stance. "You've come to dominate me into submission Embry? The pack gonna hold me down while you beat me into following you? Huh?" I recognised that he was trying to get me worked up. It worked. I resented the insinuation that I was even remotely like he'd been as a leader.

I let out a snarl and snapped at him. "I would never order my pack to fight my battles for me. They follow out of loyalty and respect. And they come for vengeance. But they won't touch you. Because this is between you and me Uley." I could feel the wolf taking over now. Anything he could say or do wouldn't budge me. The wolf was adamant. He had to pay. There had to be punishment.

_Charge. Slash. Kill._

"Vengeance?" He scoffed. Even in his wolf form I could see the condescension written all over his face, making me even crazier, fuelling the overwhelming desire to rip his mocking face from his body. "Is the little baby alpha mad I'm not going to play with him?" He mocked, clearly under the impression this was about alpha business.

I snarled at him before a low growl began to erupt from my chest. I heard it being echoed across the pack behind me and watched as the big black wolf in front of me crouched ever so slightly lower, clearly intimidated by the threat facing him.

The wolf was gleeful at the small act of submission. The chant grew evermore powerful.

_Bite. Pin. Kill_.

I let loose a snarl as I spoke. "You think this is about something as fucking petty as alpha? You're fucked in the head Sam if you think I'd bring my pack out here in the middle of the day to hash out some leadership bullshit! No. I'm here to give you a taste of some of your own medicine. I'm here to inflict on you the pain you left Leah in." A flash of fear crossed through his eyes as he comprehended what I'd just said and I pressed forward, capitalising on his moment of weakness.

_Pounce. Maul. Kill._

"Did you think we wouldn't figure it out Sam? Huh? What the fuck did you think you were doing? How fucking dare you touch her! She's mine! And you think you can put your filthy fucking paws on her? Never again!" I snarled at him.

I felt his anger rise as he pounced at me and dodged out of the way before he rounded on me. "Yours?! She's mine! She was mine first, she's mine now and she'll still be mine for the rest of her life! I can touch her however the fuck I like! I can do whatever I want with her because she's mine!"

That was it. The wolf took over entirely and I willingly, happily even, submitted to it. I gave my entire being to the wolf, who was crazed with fury. I felt the ripples of fear run through the pack as the extent of my wrath was bared to them all. I saw the shock in Sam's eyes and pounced. Lunging at him with a growl, I managed to scrape my claws across his face. I revelled in the raw smell of blood dripping from his muzzle and pressed my attack forward, feinting his left side before swinging my body back around to snap at his right. He dodged out and snapped at my body. I yelped as the sting hit me but knew it would be healed in no time. I pulled back enough to notice that the pack had moved to encircle us. There was no out. We were going to end this shit tonight.

We circled around each other, his black wolf mirroring my every step, staying opposite me, away from my sharp fangs that were itching to sink into his flesh, both of us growling and snarling at each other. I snapped at him and he matched me move for move.

Posturing. Each of us pushing to force the other to back down before this got truly physical. The flutter of thoughts in the pack mind had died down and the silence was eery. Eventually my wolf tired of the gameplay and as a red haze of bloodlust settled over my vision I made my move.

I crouched low before springing at Sam. The snap of his teeth at my shoulder barely registered as I plunged my teeth into the flesh of his back. I forced my fangs in just a little further and gripped him hard. He let out a growl as I thrashed my head from side to side, ruthlessly pulling the wound open further and further before using my strength to haul him up and cast him into a nearby tree.

I raised my lips in a sinister smile at the satisfying crunch of bones upon his impact against the trunk of the tree before resuming my assault. I stalked towards his body and as I made to bite down on his neck, he jumped at me with a surprising force considering the amount of pain he must surely have been in.

I let out a pained growl as the searing burn of his bite in my left leg hit but quickly shrugged it off. I rounded on him and sunk my teeth into the side of his body. The snap of his ligaments served only to push me further in my attack and I crouched down in front his weak form before swiftly pouncing up at him and forcing him onto his back. I lifted my left paw while I restrained his body with my right and slashed my claws through the meat of his belly. He whimpered out loud, encouraging my wolf in its assault and I took the chance to drive my fangs into his neck.

I savoured the taste of his salty blood covering my tongue and let out an internal howl of pleasure. My wolf was rejoicing at his demise. I continued my assault on his neck and a second before he blacked out his mind became completely open to me, flooding my thoughts, consuming my own mind entirely. His thoughts became mine, his feelings became mine, his loyalties, his memories, bonds and ties all became a part of me. In that moment I owned him. I knew everything about him.

He never truly let go of Leah. He was tearing his soul, his very being in half. His wolf was Emily's. but the man, the man hadn't ever come to terms with the loss of his first love, hadn't ever let her go. It was no wonder he'd lost his damn mind. He was literally waging a war inside his own body and both parts of him were holding on with everything they had to the thing they were fighting for. The alpha in him couldn't, wouldn't accept Emily, further fuelling the carnage in his mind. I almost felt sorry for him. Just the simple act of bearing witness to his battle upon himself was enough to make me want to lose my own mind. But the last thing I saw, that was enough to actually push me over the edge. Laid bare to me in his mind were the images of Leah. How he'd hurt her. The extent of the damage he'd caused to her, so much worse than what I had initially anticipated. So much worse than I thought we could all handle. It made me lose it completely.

I sunk my teeth further into his already torn neck until I felt him lose consciousness beneath me, his limbs becoming floppy and eyes rolling into the back of his head. My wolf delighted at his efforts the entire time, and pushed me to attack further when I picked up the solid sound of Sam's heart continuing to pump the life force through his body.

The moment I felt his body go limp under me, the roar of voices in my mind erupted, worried and anxious, pleading with me to stop.

"Em, come on!"

"Stop now Embry! He's down!"

"Please man! Don't do this!"

Jake made to move towards me, trying to halt my attack but I snapped at him and he backed down, cautiously stepping away from me.

The voices were chaos. They were conflicting with my wolf's wants. They were fucking with my mind. It was enough. It was just enough to drive away the unfaltering need for revenge and bring the man to the forefront, pushing the wolf away. The wolf who wanted to continue the attack until Sam's heart stopped beating. I went against all of my instincts and pulled away from Sam's slack body. I slowly crept backwards, away from his body as Jared went to him, sniffing him over and checking on his injuries. It wasn't long before he voiced his diagnosis for us all to hear.

"He looks alright. Bad, but he'll survive. He's probably going to need some medical attention though." He called with a questioning glance in my direction.

I was in contention with myself. I didn't know what I wanted. The wolf wanted more punishment. More pain. More retribution for the harming of his imprint. The wolf wanted Sam dead. The alpha knew the repercussions on the pack would be disastrous if I actually killed him. And the man was torn. Torn by the fact that he didn't even feel guilty at the damage he'd just caused to his brother. Torn by the fact that he didn't feel anything but pleasure at the thought of finishing him off.

I was beyond confused. I felt like a bystander in my own mind, like I was simply there watching the entities that inhabited my body fight it out amongst themselves. It was like I was drowning in the vast ocean of my own insanity.

I dragged the image of Leah to the forefront of my mind and was finally able to shut away my own derangement, caving under the weight of my duty, my responsibility, and did the best thing for my pack and my imprint.

"Jared, Jake, carry him inside to Emily. Put him wherever she tells you to and tell her my mom will come and look him over when she can." I knew Leah would never forgive me if I let him die and the pack would suffer greatly so I had to go against my own desires for everyone's sake.

They both nodded at me. I spoke again just before Jake phased out.

"Jake? Make sure she understands that my mom will come regardless of her opinion and that if she's treated with anything less than the respect she deserves while she's here, there will be problems for her. Serious fucking problems."

He nodded again with a quick "Got it Em!" before phasing out and slipping on his shorts.

I watched as they carried Sam's lifeless body inside his house and listened for the horrified scream I was sure would follow when Emily saw him. Sure enough a few seconds later I heard it, the desperate high pitched shrill indicating that she'd seen him. I turned to the remainder of my pack.

"Quil, I need you to come with me and give me your shorts when we get home and then you and Paul are on patrol until further notice. We'll head out now. Seth you're with me."

And with that I took off for home, flanked by Seth and Quil, with a desperate need to see Leah and check in on her again.

Nobody said anything while we ran, each of us brooding on our own disorientating thoughts and not bothering to even try and notice anybody else's.

I recollected my memories of the beating I had just administered to Sam and tried to figure out where I was at with how it had gone down. At first I was a little surprised at the blatant lack of remorse I felt for my actions but then the vision of Leah's broken body sprawled across the forest floor entered my mind and I knew without a doubt that I'd gladly beat up on Sam like that everyday for the rest of my life if it meant she wouldn't ever have to go through that again.

We quickly made it back to my place and phased out. Quil handed over his shorts and then phased back and went to run patrol while Seth and I slipped our pants on and made our way to the house.

I sighed in relief the second Leah's scent hit me and savoured the short moment of peace in my ever increasingly stressful life as the tension left my body in a rush. I about ran to the bedroom to see her. When I rounded the corner, ducking under the doorway into my room, Leah was sitting up in my bed staring out the window.

She swung her head around to see me and a broad smile spread across her face as her glorious eyes met mine. I sped over to her and planted a lingering kiss on her plump lips before reluctantly pulling away to look over her.

"How you doing honey? You get enough rest?" I asked her as I looked over her body.

She nodded at me with a small smile. "I'm doing ok. Getting restless, wanting to get out of this bed but I'm feeling good. And I only just woke up a couple of minutes ago." She appeared to be bruise free but I knew the gashes on her abdomen weren't healed yet. Never the less she seemed in reasonably good shape so I smiled at her and gave her another short kiss. She whispered against my lips before I pulled away. "I'm glad you're back though. I've missed you. Will you stay?"

I sighed, happy to hear she missed me just as much as I had missed her. I dropped another kiss on her lips and smiled against her as she kissed me back before a short cough broke us out of our trance.

"Uh hello? Brother in the room here!" I heard Seth call out and chuckled as I pulled away from Leah.

I went and sat at the foot of the bed and began rubbing Leah's exposed foot as Seth took my place by the head of the bed. He dropped a short kiss on the top of his sister's head and gave her an awkward hug. "Glad to see you're ok sis. I've been worried crazy about you. Don't freak me out like that again ok?" He urged her. I could almost hear the fear in his voice at the fact that she was more vulnerable than we'd all thought she was.

She nodded at him and he calmed a little. I noticed the heavy bags under his eyes and wondered when the last time he slept had been. Almost as soon as I thought it he let loose a yawn and mumbled that he was going to go home to catch some shut eye and he'd be back later. He gave Leah one last hug and waved at me as he left.

I knew I was forgetting something and when I remembered I jumped off the bed and turned to Leah. "Hey I've just got to go and talk to mom for a sec k? I'll be right back! And if you need anything call me alright?" She nodded at me and I left in search of mom.

I finally found her in her bedroom. I glanced over at the alarm clock, resting on her bedside table and noticed it had just ticked over to 2:30 in the afternoon. I guess the fight had lasted longer than I'd thought it had. Mom rolled over and sat up in her bed.

"Sorry ma, did I wake you?"

"No Em it's okay. I was due to check on Leah any minute now anyway. What's going on?"

"Sam's not in a good way. Any chance you could head over to his place and look him over? I know it's not your job and I shouldn't rely on you but-"

"It's fine Em." She cut me off. "What's wrong with him? Am I going to need all of my gear or just some?" She questioned as she ruffled around in her closet, pulling out all sorts of medical supplies I never knew she had hidden in there.

"We got into a bit of a fight. He's got cuts and broken bones. Bruises too, I'd imagine."

She just sighed and gave me a weary look and I knew I should feel bad that I'd disappointed her but I simply couldn't. He deserved everything he'd got and more.

"Let's go check on Leah then I'll head out ok?"

"Sure ma." I responded as we made out way to my room.

I was surprised to see both Jared and Jake in my room huddled over Leah and called them into the hallway so mom could fit in to check Leah over. I motioned the guys to head into the kitchen behind me and made my way to the fridge, pulling out my plate as I spoke to them.

"So how'd it go? How's Emily holding up?" As much as I wanted to not care I couldn't help it. They were still pack.

"She was mad. Delirious really but Sam seemed to be healing okay. Bones looked like they were setting right but we aren't doctors or anything so we can't know for sure." Jared rattled off to me as I dug into my pile of food, cold because I was too famished to wait for it to heat.

"Good. Good. My mom's gonna head over just as soon as she's done looking over Leah and you two will go with her and escort her home. If Emily so much as even thinks about my mother rudely, turn around and bring her right back home and Em can fix Sam herself. "

They both nodded and I told them to grab a quick bite to eat before they left. We all sat in silence chomping back the much needed food and it was clear we'd all neglected our bodies that day. I finished up my food and rinsed off my plate, leaving it in the sink as mom walked out and told me how Leah was doing.

"She looks good, son. Only the cuts in her stomach haven't fully healed and even they are looking good. Clean, no infection and they've already covered over with new skin. At this rate she's going to be healed completely by tomorrow night at the latest."

It was such a major relief to know she was actually going to be fine and I wrapped mom in a bear hug to thank her for her help. When I placed her back on the ground I turned to the guys.

"You guys about ready to head out?"

"Yeah we're good to go whenever." Jared said once he'd swallowed down the last bite of the sandwich he'd thrown together.

"Could one of you go and get my supply bag off of my bed?" Mom asked and Jake headed off to get it. Then she turned to me with a small bottle in her outstretched hand. "She's going to be just fine but if the pain gets to be too much give her two of these. I'm not sure on how quick she'll burn through them but I think it's best to stick to a small dose more often to lessen the side effects if we give her too much.

I nodded as I took in the information and watched her leave with my wolves. Then I walked back to my room, happy as hell to be alone here with Leah. There was stuff we definitely needed to discuss. Privately. Nobody else would hear about this if I could do anything at all to help it.

* * *

**AN: **Thanks a ton for your reviews last time around! So helpful to get an insight into what and how my readers are actually thinking so thanks. Really makes it easier for me to write. Despite what you may think, your reviews keep me writing when I'm having a hard time or when I should really be studying so keep it up if you can guys. One reader expressed some concern about the Jake/Bella thing. I guarantee it will be dealt with. Probably sooner rather than later, though I am planning for this to be a pretty long story so you never know when Bella drama could pop up again, I'm not really sure though, I have an ending for this story but everything else I make up as I write it so any suggestions you guys make could just end up in the story (ps I hate Bella as a character. Easily the most plain, lifeless, forgettable character I have ever read. A wooden plank would have been a much more interesting and far less annoying read if you ask me. So if anyone is a Bella fan, sorry, but I probably won't make her look very good. Bella rant over). As far as the Sam situation goes, I have a niggling feeling that people will be surprised with how I deal with it and its either going to go one of two ways: you'll all get where I'm coming from or you'll hate me with a vengeance (I'm told that good writing can polarise people like this so oh well - sorry, I can't help if what I write isn't everyone's cup of tea but I do try!) and I'm just hoping that not everybody hates me when the next few chapters come out. That being said, I truly hope you enjoyed this instalment. Let me know what you think yeah? (: until next time, Nikita x


	22. Chapter 21

**AN: **Hey guys! Just a quick note up here and I'll chuck another at the bottom. Firstly, thanks for reviews for last chapter! I read and appreciated each and every one of them! Secondly, this chapter contains some mature content (ie. sex) don't read if you're underage or it offends you. Please! If you don't want to read that, it's all clear until the first line-y thing and then again after the second one. Thanks again! Enjoy!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own twilight or any of its characters or recognisable material.

I walked into my bedroom to see that Leah had got herself out of bed and was rummaging through my closet wearing only a black bra and panties. I decided right then and there that black was my new favourite colour. I just barely stifled a groan with a pang of guilt. I was disgusted with myself. Leah was still in recovery and here I was drooling over her amazing body.

"How come you're up? You're meant to be resting Leah." I sighed out at her.

She flicked her gaze over to me looking like a kid that had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar before she recovered, wiping the guilty look from her face and replacing it with an innocent smile that I couldn't resist caving to.

"I was trying to find a shirt that smelled of you to wear. I was missing you."

I melted.

"Come on. Hop back into bed and I'll sit with you. Then you won't need my shirt."

She gave me a look and I sighed.

"Fine. I'll get you something out of the dryer if you just get back to bed ok?"

She rewarded me with her dazzling smile as she climbed back into my tiny bed and I went to grab my favourite shirt out of the dryer quickly. I was in a hurry to get back to her. I entered the room again and handed her the shirt which she gratefully slid over her head. She patted the bed next to her for me to lie down as she shuffled over as close to the wall as she could.

I shook my head at her. I knew her touch would only distract me and I could tell she needed to talk about this so I went to sit on the chair at the foot of the bed so I could see her better. I pulled her foot into my hands and began gently rubbing them while I sat there looking at her gorgeous face. I dreaded the conversation I was about to have with her but I knew it couldn't wait. We wouldn't be alone for long and I needed privacy for this.

"Leah. Look at me."

She raised her eyes to meet mine.

"We have to talk about this Leah. We can't just ignore everything that's been going on."

She got a stubborn look on her face as she squared her shoulders and hardened her jaw and I knew it was going to be like pulling blood from a rock.

"I know what happened Leah. Last night, the time before. I saw it all. Everything he's ever done to you. I saw it."

Her eyes softened ever so slightly. "How?" She asked me, a tear threatening to fall from the corner of her eye. "Did everyone see?"

"No. Just me. We got into it and I don't really know what happened but one second we were fighting, the next his mind was open to me. I saw everything he's ever seen. Everything he's ever done. So I know Leah. Now will you please please talk to me about this? I need to know you're ok."

The single tear fell from her eye as she leaned forward and I moved to sit on the bed next to her and wrapped my arm around her, letting her cry softly on my shoulder.

"He was always sorry afterwards. He told me he loved me. It's been worse since I've been staying here. He said he could smell you on me. He hated it." My heart dropped. I'd already known it but it still hurt to think that she had been hurt so badly simply because of me. I absently ran my hand over my chest in an attempt to soothe my aching heart as she pressed on. "He followed me home last night. I was almost here so I told Seth to head home, I'd be fine the rest of the way. But I wasn't. As soon as Seth was out of earshot he came up behind me. He grabbed me and pulled me close to his body. I tried to pull away but he wouldn't let me. He just gripped me harder and held me to him. Then he kissed me. I didn't want him to. I told him to stop. I always tell him to stop. But he never does."

I felt the urge to phase with the anger I was experiencing, and knowing how the rest of the story had gone down I was sure the desire to go wolf would only get stronger but I knew I had to keep my shit together for Leah. I could sense that she needed to talk about this, to get it off her chest so we could move on from this so I reached across and squeezed her hand lightly, letting her know I was there for her no matter what before she continued.

"I felt so dirty when he started trailing his hands over my body but when I fought he punched me in the face and told me to keep it down. He didn't want anybody interrupting him. He kept telling me how much he loved me. I tried to reason with him. I said if he loved me he wouldn't keep doing this to me. I begged him not to. I begged." She began to cry more forcefully and I kept telling myself I needed to hold it together for her. I repeated it over and over in my mind, like a mantra. It helped to calm the tremors rolling through my body a little. She waited until the tears subsided to keep going.

"I told him... I told him it wasn't fair to Emily to keep doing this. That just made him angrier. He kept going. More forcefully now though. He... He..." She cut off the end of the sentence as the sobs began but we both knew how it ended. I was furious. I almost went and finished what I'd started earlier that morning but when she clasped onto me stronger than ever before I found I couldn't bring myself to leave her.

"I fought him. I fought the whole time. But it just made him mad. Before I knew what had happened he'd phased, raking his claws across my stomach." I sat rubbing her back and lightly rocking her back and forth as I waited for her to continue. "Afterwards, when he'd phased back, he was so broken. It was like he'd just woken up from a bad dream. He kept kissing me, even though I didn't want him to. I was in so much pain. I couldn't fight anymore. He kept repeating over and over again how much he loved me. That he was sorry he'd hurt me. He's always sorry afterwards. It never helps any though. And then he left. He just left me there. I begged him to get me help. I screamed for anybody to hear me. I could feel I was going to pass out soon and all I could think was that I couldn't believe he'd left me like that." We sat quietly for a while. Each of us processing what she had just told me.

"I shouldn't have sent Seth home before I got here. I should've known he would be waiting for me."

When she started taking the blame, feeling guilty about what had happened to her, what he had done to her, I lost my composure.

"He raped you Leah! And that's not your fault baby girl. Nothing you've ever done could excuse that. This is all on him. And it will never happen again. I swear Leah. I'll never let anybody hurt you. Nobody will ever touch you. Never ever again. Not as long as I'm breathing." I looked into her glassy eyes as I vowed to protect her. I knew she could see the truth written across my hardened face and she dropped her head into my chest and cried even harder than before.

I don't know how long we sat together, her quietly crying into my chest, me rocking her back and forth, trying to comfort her but it seemed like hours. After a while she lifted her head to look into my eyes and slowly leaned up to me, lightly pressing her plump lips to mine. I gave her a light kiss back as a breathy release of her name fell across my lips.

She pushed against me and her kiss became more forceful, surprising me. I felt my body react to her touch as she carefully lifted herself so she was straddling my body and pressed increasingly more passionate kissed to my lips. I whispered against her. "Leah?"

She pulled back and pierced me with her pleading stare. "Please Embry... Touch me. I don't want to feel his touch on me anymore. Please. Make me forget." She looked so desperate. She needed this and as much as I didn't want it to be like this between us right now, as much as I wanted her to be physical with me because she wanted to and not because she was trying to rid herself of the memories of another man's touch, the imprint made me want to give her anything and everything she wanted and needed and so I found myself leaning into her and kissing her with every ounce of passion, adoration and love that I felt for her. I trusted that my instincts wouldn't let me lose control with her. I trusted that the imprint would tell me if she needed me to stop and let myself give in to her body.

* * *

Her hands trailed down to toy with the waistband of my shorts as her lips pressed hard against mine and I felt what little apprehension remained quickly dissipate as my body began to respond to her touch. I slid my tongue lightly across her lips, pleading for access that was swiftly granted to me. Her moan reverberated through me as our tongues met and I had to work to suppress a moan of my own when she pulled away from me and lifted my shirt over her head leaving her in just a sports bra and panties again. I let my hands linger for a second over the healing cuts across her abdomen before I moved them to grip the caramel expanse of skin along her waist.

I lifted her and stood out of the bed before lightly depositing her back on the edge and kneeling on the floor between her legs. As I pulled slightly away from her body she reached out to me and ran a soft finger across my stomach, outlining the ridges of my well defined abdomen. A groan slid past my lips and I had a fleeting thought that nothing could ever feel better than her hands on my body before I leaned into her and ran my tongue along the exposed stretch of neck that called to me. She continued running her hands over my body as I lightly sucked on her neck and savoured her ocean taste on the tip of my tongue while she ravaged my body with her hands, running them softly over my chest and up to my shoulders, just breaking the skin there with her nails when I moved up to nibble softly on her earlobe. I groaned against her skin causing her to moan in response and I felt my shorts get painfully tighter.

I moved further down her body and left a trail of fluttering kisses across the delectable skin stretched tight over her collarbone as she reached behind her and unhooked her bra. I swallowed back a growl as she pulled her arms from the garment, unveiling her perfect breasts to me and continued my assault on her neck. When her hands tracked their way down my body and rubbed me through my shorts I moved back from her a little. I didn't want her to feel like she had to touch me. I ever so slowly moved my hands from where I'd firmly kept them stilled on her waist to move up her body with a questioning glance into her bewitching jade eyes, glazed over with lust. She nodded at me and I let my tongue trace down her neck, over her collarbone and settled my mouth over her hardened nipple while my hand got to work on her other bud.

I smirked over her supple skin as the breathy sound of her moans hit me. I continued working on her perky breasts and revelled in the delicious sounds of her moans, thinking all the while that nothing could ever sound better than my name falling from her lips right alongside the moans that rewarded my ministrations on her body. I loved the feel of her soft skin, firm muscles beneath it with just the right amount of give for me to knead my hands into. I reached down with one hand and undid the button on my shorts in an attempt to relieve some of the discomfort they were causing my painfully hard erection, managing it so that Leah couldn't see. I didn't want to frighten her or make her feel like I was looking for anything here except to give her what she needed.

She wound her fingers through the mess of hair on my head as I suckled on her nipple and pulled my head up to hers. I released her breast from my mouth with a pop and co operated with her, swooping down to claim her mouth immediately. She moaned my name into me and I felt my desire climb ever higher as the scent of her arousal flooded my sensitive nostrils.

She began to moan louder as I continued my assault on her lips before she spoke against my persistent lips. "More Embry! I need more." I pulled away to look at her, hesitating, unsure of what exactly she wanted from me.

"Make love to me Embry." She breathed out so softly I almost didn't hear. There was a striking vulnerability about her. I saw the plea in her eyes and knew I couldn't deny her when she so clearly needed this from me. I nodded at her and she fell backwards onto the bed pulling me with her. I was careful not to let my weight fall onto her, knowing it could cause her pain. I hovered above her, my body settled between her legs, hands braced on the bed either side of her shoulders. I looked down on her and placed a tender kiss across her forehead, before doing the same on each of her cheeks, her nose, her chin, and finally her sweet lips, swollen and red from my attention earlier. I pulled back. "Leah...-" I tried to make sure she was okay with this. That this was what she wanted, not just what she needed, but she cut me off.

"No Em. No more talking. Please. Just make love to me. I want this." I smiled and dropped a short, sweet kiss onto her lips before working my way down her body, mapping it out with my lips, hands and tongue the entire way, committing it to memory just in case I was never given the privilege of touching her body again. By the time I had made it to the waistband of her panties she was writhing beneath me, half mad from want, with unchecked moans flowing freely from her mouth. The scent of her arousal hung thickly in the air and I wanted to drown myself in it. The wolf was howling madly with delight as she lifted herself on her elbows and locked eyes with me. I gazed up at her, hair wild, strong features, most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She nodded her permission at the unspoken question and I curled my thumbs up under the waistband of her tiny panties, that barely covered her anyway, and slowly pulled them down over her legs until she was left entirely bare before me. I shed my shorts entirely, breathing a sigh of relief as my throbbing erection was finally freed from its cage. Starting at her ankles, I slowly massaged and kissed my way up her legs, making them fall further and further apart the higher I climbed, dipping my tongue into the crease at her knee and stopping when I reached her inner thigh.

The scent of her arousal so close had me wanting to taste her but I knew I'd left her hanging long enough and she needed release now so I crawled back up her body, relishing the feel of her caramel skin, just a shade or two lighter than my own, rubbing against me and trailed the fingers of my left hand up and down her side, bracing my weight on my other arm when my face was level with hers. I leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips, breathing against her. "Can I touch you now Leah?" She nodded at me and I traced my hand between our bodies, over the tuft of hair at the apex of her thighs and began to rub my fingers on her wet folds. She gasped as my finger pushed inside of her wet heat. She was so tight, I could barely even imagine how it was going to feel once my hard cock was fully seated inside of her. I groaned out loud at the thought. I began to pump my finger slowly, in and out of her before adding a second one to the mix. I kissed her hard, groaning into her mouth as I moved my fingers inside of her and rubbed her clit with my thumb. It wasn't long before she was clamping down hard on my fingers, nails digging into the flesh of my arms where she gripped me tightly, a scream of pleasure in the shape of my name freeing itself from her lungs, falling over the edge. She threw her head back in satisfaction and I took the chance to suck on her neck a little more, causing her to spasm around me more tightly. I smirked at her reaction and continued to slowly pump in and out of her until she came down from her high. I brought my hand to my mouth, sucking her juices off my fingers, letting out a moan of my own at her taste before taking my wet fingers and rubbing them across her hard nipple and dropping a kiss on her neck where I'd just left a mark.

She somehow managed to sneak her hand between our bodies without me noticing and grasped my rock hard member in her fist as she came down from the height of her orgasm, making me gasp in pleasure, and smirked up at me before slowly rubbing the head of my cock against her silky, wet folds, mixing her juices with the precum gathered at the tip of my raging hard on, making me groan her name out loud. She removed her hand and pushed me back so I was sitting on my knees and lifted on her elbows so she could watch as I rubbed myself against her core. I captured her gaze with my dark eyes and asked her one last time even though I knew it was too late now. There was no way I'd be able to control myself now. I needed her. It was greater than the obligation to breathe, more urgent than the beat of my heart. I had to have her.

"You sure?" I only just managed to croak out through the suffocating need of my desire.

"Yes, Embry I'm sure," she replied and I pushed the head of my cock into her without delay.

"Fuck!" I grunted out before slowly pushing further into her. Little by little I pushed into her, pulling back before pushing more back into her, spurred on by her panting moans, until I was fully surrounded by her. She was hot. So hot. Nothing had been hot to my supernatural body since the first phase. It was like a gift from the spirits. "Mm Leah! So fucking tight! You're so warm!" I moaned to her as I fell forward over her body, bracing my weight on my arms either side of her body, careful not to cause her pain with her healing cuts.

She moaned back at me. "So full. Good... Mmmm Embry!"

I took that as my cue to start moving inside of her and pumped in and out of her. I tried to put all of my emotions into the physical joining of our bodies, making love to her to the sound of our own music, moans and groans of satisfaction and pleasure sneaking past our lips to one another, the slapping sound as my skin met hers, the slide of her juices mixing with mine. It was pure ecstasy. I knew I wasn't going to last long so I reached down with one hand and began to rub lightly on her clit with one hand while I moved inside of her. I leaned down to her ear and nibbled on it lightly before whispering to her. "I'm not gonna last much longer baby. Cum for me. Cum with me." I used the tiniest hint of my alpha voice and it was a matter of only seconds before she reached her orgasm, clamping down tightly on me, making me lose it too, taking me with her over the edge of our pleasure. I let go and pounded into her three more times as I shot my seed deep into her, with a roar of her name while she continued to pulse and clench around me.

As we came down together, I looked down on her, head thrust back in the throes of passion, neck exposed for me bearing my marks from earlier, fingers gripping me tight, carving more indentations into my already marked, red skin and marvelled at how beautiful she looked before dipping my head to lay in the junction of her neck and shoulder and basking in the scent of the love we'd made together hanging thick in the air.

* * *

She was so fucking beautiful in the aftermath of her orgasm. Primal. Carnal. Mate. I felt whole. Wolf content. Alpha settled. Man happy. She had brought me this beautiful gift of peace, unity in my own soul, oddly, a rare occurrence these days. She brought me a unity I'd been searching for ever since that first crack of bone that had marked me as warrior of the Quileute tribe. I couldn't stop the thought that crossed my mind. "God, I love you."

I knew from the tension of her body that I'd let it slip. I'd been simply thinking it but in my relaxed state of mind I'd let it flow out of my mouth and directly into her ear. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked down on her. "Leah? Fuck I'm sorry. I didn't mean- Well I did mean but- That's not how I wanted- Fuck!" I didn't know what to say so I just stopped stuttering out things that were probably just making the situation worse and waited for her to speak.

She pushed against my chest, silently telling me she wanted me off of her so I pulled away and slid on the shorts I was wearing earlier while she covered herself up, tangling her body in my sheets. Despite the situation, the sight of her wrapped up in my sheets like a Christmas present for me to open had me instantly hard again. She looked at me, tears making her forest coloured eyes glassy and tearing my heart open. "I can't deal with this Embry. I don't know what you want from me but I can't do it. I'm sorry."

I felt the searing burn in my chest as she said those words. The words I'd been dreading hearing since I'd first imprinted on her. She didn't love me. She didn't want me.

"Maybe it might be best if I go back home for a while. Give all this some space."

"No." The wolf was adamant. She couldn't leave. I refused to let her go home to that hopeless excuse for a mother with nobody to look out for her. I stood my ground and challenged her with my state. She was starting to get frustrated. I could tell she was mad.

"What do you mean no? I can go if I want!"

"I mean no. You're not going Leah. That's that."

"Fuck you! You don't get to tell me what to do! I'm leaving! Tonight!"

I was enraged. No fucking way was she going anywhere. Especially with her stomach still healing. I knew I wasn't really mad at her. I knew I was actually just worried about her being hurt again and torn apart with despair because she didn't want me but I'd never dealt well with sadness so I let my anguish give way to rage. I pierced her with my stare.

"Don't leave Leah. I'm serious."

She gave me her best defiant look and spat back at me "just because you fucked me doesn't mean you own me!"

That hurt. What we'd just shared wasn't fucking. That was me giving her everything I had. I'd already given her my home. I'd given her my heart. And tonight I'd given her my body.

"You think that was just a fuck? A one off wham-bam-thankyoumam run of the mill roll in the sack?! That was more than just fucking," I sneered at the word "and you know it!" So don't tell me what I do and don't get to do! You wanna start laying down rules. Well here goes! You don't get to beg me to make love to you and then walk away! It doesn't work like that Leah. You don't get to use me to erase the darkness and then run away at the first sign of anything even remotely emotional. Yes, I love you. I won't deny it. But that doesn't mean I expect anything more from you than what we've had this whole time. So please. Just stay." By the end of my little rant I was about ready to get down on my knees and beg her, my heart was aching so bad.

Somewhere in the middle of my spiel she'd begun to look out the window at the stars that had risen since we'd been alone here. She turned to look at me and as she opened her mouth to speak a crashing noise sounded from the door behind me and Jake came running into the bedroom. A growl erupted loud from my chest with a deadly low "what do you want Jake?" accompanying it.

"Sorry man! I know you've got shit going on in here but the council's called a meeting. They're demanding you attend. I've tried to hold it all off for as long as I can but it's getting out of hand now. The pack's all riled up, council's beyond pissed and I don't have the power to control it anymore. I need you man."

I was losing it quick. I didn't know how I'd switched from being so at peace to at war again so rapidly but I was about to get whiplash from my own moodswings. The alpha in me needed to get to his pack. The wolf needed to stay and smooth things out with his imprint and as ever, the man was torn and confused, still reeling with hurt from the argument with Leah. I turned on my heel and stormed out of my bedroom, shoving my fist through the wall right next to the first hole I'd punched in it.

"Fuck!" I was in turmoil but I knew I needed to get my act together. I had a pack to run now. I didn't have time to let myself go to shit. "Jake. Send for Seth and Paul. Paul's to bring my mom back here immediately, regardless of what she's doing, even if he has to pick her up and carry her back here. Tell Seth to swing by Jared's and bring Kim. Then they patrol around this house. You, Quil and Jared get to come with me to the meeting. Keep up patrol until I phase in. The elders will have to wait until I'm ready to get there. I don't jump at their every beck and call. Get out there and sort it now. I don't want to see or hear anybody until the boys get back with my mom and Kim, got it?"

"Got it boss." He said as he left the house. I waited until I heard the door close signalling Jake had left, taking the time to get my thoughts together, before walking calmly back into my room. I dropped to my knees on the floor next to Leah. "Baby? I'm sorry I got mad. I get that you've got some issues with the emotional side of this and stuff but please, please just tell me you'll stay. We can work on shit. We can be just friends. Whatever you want. Please Leah. Look at me."

She turned to look at me, tears flowing down her face and I could see the fears in her eyes. She was scared I was going to leave her like Sam did. I knew I needed to tell her about the imprint but I wasn't sure now was the right time and I was going to be leaving any minute so it would have to wait but I could see she loved me too and that made my heart swell with pride. I reached up and wiped away her tears with my thumb before placing feather-light kisses everywhere they'd touched her skin. "Please don't cry baby girl. This is going to be fine ok? We'll sort it out."

She nodded. "So you'll stay right?" Again, she nodded. I smiled at her. Before leaning in to place a short kiss on her lips. When I moved to pull away, she pressed into me, keeping contact, her own way of showing me what she felt. She was never very good with words so I just took it gratefully. I pulled her into my arms, mindful of the wounds on her belly and let her lay her head on my chest. We sat that way until I heard the footsteps pounding the stairs on the porch. I heard two sets of female voices so I knew everyone was here and I pulled Leah off my chest.

"I've got to go to the meeting now okay? Mom and Kim are here if you need anything and Seth and Paul are going to patrol the house. Yell for them if you need to get in touch with me."

She nodded and gave me a small kiss before whispering a short good luck in my ear and letting me go. I passed the girls in the kitchen and gave both a hug, asking my mom to go check on Leah's wounds before heading out the door.

It was time to face the council and I had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

There we have it. We now know what happened with Sam that night. And we had a little Embry/Leah loving. We're starting to see the return of feisty Leah. She's been a little timid so far but she's on her way back. I hope you don't mind some Embry/Leah fighting. I see them having a very passionate relationship, fights and all. What do you think is going to happen at the meeting? How do you think Embry is going to react to everything? Especially seeing Billy? Let me know, push that little review button and tell me your thoughts. Also, are you guys liking the longer chapters or should I go back to shorter ones? I can't wait to hear your guys' thoughts!

Until next time, Nikita x


	23. Chapter 22

**AN: **I'm back! Here's the next instalment of UATW. In this one we see what happens with the council. Sorry for any errors, I haven't done too thorough a check on this as I was anxious to get it out to you all before I head back to uni tomorrow. Thank you all for the last round of reviews and I hope you enjoy this. Please hit that little review button and let me know what you think (: Until next time xx

* * *

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own twilight. **

I was beyond annoyed to have been taken away from Leah when we so desperately needed to talk. I'd decided as soon as I left that I was going to tell Leah about the imprint. As soon as I could. She needed to know and it wasn't fair of me to keep something so huge from her. I figured the sooner I could get this confrontation (I knew that was what this really was, masquerading under the guise of a meeting) out of the way, the sooner I could get home to Leah and have that conversation with her.

I quickly made my way into the forest and stripped, tying my shorts to my ankle before phasing. With a quick mental checkup on the pack I made sure everyone was where they were meant to be and made a run to where I could see Jake was patrolling. I needed him to bring me up to date on what had been going on today that had caused everything to go to shit.

I ran up alongside him where he was patrolling and began dishing out some orders. "Seth, Paul, make sure you keep a tight patrol around the girls. So help me god if anything gets through you." I felt them both agree before I continued. "Quil, you can keep patrol on the rez. The rest of you with me, lets go."

Jared and Jake fell into formation with me as we began to run to Billy's place. That was generally where council meetings were held since the pack had reformed, it was easier for us wolves to get there quickly as we could run through the forest phased and not have to worry about anyone seeing us. As we ran, Jake brought me up to date on everything that had been going down earlier in the day.

"We took your mom to Sam and Emily's but Emi flipped out about anybody being there after the way we'd left Sam. She pretty much said none of us were welcome and that she could help Sam heal on her own. We let her know that we weren't leaving until your mom had looked him over and she seemed to give in. We went in and saw him, your mom patched him up best she could but when we went to find Emily and tell her all the stuff she would have to keep doing to aid his recovery, she was gone. Nowhere to be seen. So we sat around for a while, your mom kept an eye on Sam, tended his wounds, all that. None of us wanted to just leave him there on his own. So we waited for Emily to get back. She finally shows up, only she's not alone. She's got old Quil with her. So he starts going off at me, demanding a meeting now. Jared started to freak a little at Emily's nerve. I sent him outside to phase while I dealt with Emily and old Quil. I promised him that we would be at the meeting as soon as I could get a hold of you and he left. I took that as my chance to go phase. I could feel the pack starting to get worked up, and I knew they must have been annoyed at Emily going to the council. I pulled them all into line, had Jared phase out to go and accompany your mom and then I came to you. You know the rest."

I sorted through the new information in my mind. Emily had some fucking nerve going directly to the elders and I knew they were going to be mad as fuck that they'd been left out of the loop and at the fact that I'd given Sam the beat down. I mentally prepared myself for the onslaught of accusations I just knew were about to come my way as we neared the Blacks' backyard.

We stopped our run and phased out when we could just see the little red house peeking through the spectrum of greens that made up the forest. We all slipped on our pants in silence and moved as one unit, Jake and Jared flanking me.

We stalked up, heads held tall, shoulders thrown back with pride, entirely unapologetic as to why we were brought here, to where the elders awaited us. The entire council had shown up, all eleven of them, alerting us to the seriousness of the situation. It made my wolf edgy and brought my alpha presence to the forefront of my mind. I handed over the reins willingly, knowing that the man in me wouldn't be as well equipped as the alpha at dealing with the council.

We slowly, leisurely in a way, approached the bench the elders awaited us at and stood before them before I let my voice roar out my displeasure at being summoned like a common lapdog to kneel at their feet.

I decided I needed to make the first move, to show the council of old men and women before us that we no longer bowed to their every whim, so I spoke before any of them even had the chance.

"For what reason has my pack been disrupted from their role of protecting, summoned," I sneered at the thought "here to grovel to you?" I directed my questioning right at Billy, head of the council, locking eyes with him finally, for the first time since I had learned of his fathering me. He showed no signs of being aware of my knowledge of the role he had played in my life which, for some reason that I couldn't comprehend, chafed at my nerves.

For the first time in my life, I searched my father's eyes for some small drop of emotion, something that would tell me I meant something to the one person in my life that I had always pined for, to see that I had meant as much to him as he always had to me, regardless of the fact that I'd never known who he was. I found no such thing. At best, there was an almost imperceptible amount of fondness there but it was hidden beneath the layers of regret, guilt and contempt he seemed to be exuding. I screwed my face up with the bitter taste of disappointment on my tongue for a brief second before regaining my composure and awaiting the answer I had all but demanded upon my entry.

Billy looked down on us and spoke in the regal voice that was familiar to me, but sounded so different now that I knew he'd stood by and let me think I was unloved my entire life. The sound of his voice, that used to be so calming and serene to me, now only filled me with disgust. "Where is the rest of the pack?"

I became enraged with his blatant ignorance of my own question of him. "One among us is healing. The rest are patrolling, protecting the tribe and the people we love or did you forget that we do actually have a role to perform outside of falling over ourselves at your every demand?" I spat at him, defiance barely concealed in my tone. "Under what premise have you brought us here, chief Black? The pack has a lot going on right now so I'd appreciate if we could keep this short and sweet so we can get back to our pack."

"We need to discuss the change in leadership and the accompanying problems that have come with it. Why was the council of Quileute elders not kept in the loop about the changes the pack has been undergoing?"

I felt the defiance rear up in me. My alpha wanted to put Billy in his place and if I was honest the man did too. "The pack feels the council has too much control over them considering not a single member of you knows what it is we go through, the struggles we endure on a daily basis. With the change in alpha, there has been many affairs to get in order and time hasn't allowed for a full blown meeting to discuss the simple fact that I am now alpha of this pack and Sam is not."

Billy looked mildly surprised at my scornful response to the council, such a sharp contrast to the lucid conformation that Sam had always shown, practically begging them to order him around. "We understand the trials that come with a leadership change. Nevertheless, as the elders of this tribe, we should have been informed of this exchange of power by your own mouth and not Emily Young's."

I employed all of my will power to not let my face betray a single sign of my annoyance at the sheer nerve of the old men and women before me and when I spoke it was with a deadly calm intonation. "You understand nothing. Nothing of the tribulations the pack faces. Do not disrespect your tribal protectors by pretending you understand us. And as far as Emily goes. Emily Young needs to learn to keep out of matters she doesn't know anything about and keep her damn mouth shut."

A collective gasp sounded across the board of elders, indignation written clear across their faces.

"You dare speak of an imprint in such a manner?!" One of the council members exclaimed.

"When an imprint causes the level of trouble that Emily Young has, when an imprint puts their nose into wolf business that has nothing to do with them, that they understand nothing about, when an imprint doesn't know their place and disrupts the entire pack because of their own selfishness, then I speak to and about them exactly like that. Anybody that has a problem with that can take it to someone who cares." I spat my little speech at them all, silently daring them with my eyes to question me further on the matter but none did. I smirked at the small victory.

The elders all shot looks between each other before old Quil made the next move. "There are other matters to discuss tonight. The situation with Sam needs to be addressed. We have been informed that Sam left his home and was returned hours later, beaten and battered, carried by his pack brothers who swiftly left. What happened Embry?"

I seethed, the anger still pulsing through me at the thought of Sam's misdeeds. "Sam has performed many wrongs in recent times. I went to take it up with him. We got into it. He got hurt. I had the boys carry him inside his house and sent my mom around to check him over. He's going to be fine." I didn't want to tell them about the thing with Leah. I wasn't sure if she wanted people to know and I wasn't about to betray her confidence especially not for these deluded old fools.

"You speak of wrongs, what wrongs?" Billy questioned me.

I hesitated, deciding how much I would tell them. "Sam has caused a great deal of pain. He abused the power bequeathed upon him by the almighty spirits in order to cause physical, mental and emotional harm to one of our own. He deserved everything he got and more and the only reason he still lives and breathes today is the fact that for some reason his victim still holds some attachment to him and for that reason I chose to give him another chance." I didn't mention that I let him live because I didn't want to take away Leah's opportunity to get payback on him herself.

Again the council looked shocked at my honesty and lack of remorse for my actions. Billy cleared his throat, effectively silencing the murmur of whispers around him. "The council needs a brief moment to discuss this new information among ourselves. We ask you await our return here." It seemed like Billy was a quick learner. I noticed he had purposefully phrased his last comment as a question, not a command. I appreciated it and nodded my agreement. They turned and made their way inside the small house and I wondered how they were all planning on fitting in there comfortably before deciding I didn't really care that much anyway.

Jake stepped up next to me and smiled his trademark grin at me. "You did awesome bro."

Jared spoke up too "yeah man. Thanks for sticking up for us like that. You're right. The council doesn't understand shit about us or what we do." I felt the pack bonds change, solidify, and I knew I had gained Jared's respect and trust. I knew without a doubt that he would follow me to the death without question and I appreciated it. I slapped them both on the back.

"Thanks guys. Means a lot." Short and sweet.

"Hey man, you think I could grab a quick word with you for a sec?" Jared asked. I could hear the elders were a while from coming back out so I nodded. "Hey Jay, you think you could run a quick lap? Check on how the guys are going?"

He nodded and took off and I turned to Jared. "So what's up Jare?"

He subconsciously wrung his hands together. "Uh I just wanted to thank you." Thank me? What for? "Kim told me. About the baby." A small smile spread across his face. "And you know, about what you did for her. How you told her the pack would all be there for us, how you'd be there for us. I really appreciate it man."

I smiled widely at him, bringing him in for a man hug then pulling back with a hard slap on the back. "Congratulations man! So what do you think?"

A huge grin graced his face and he excitedly let out "I'm gonna be a dad!" with a pining look in his eyes. I knew he was daydreaming about his future with his imprint and their child, conceived in nothing less than a true, everlasting love.

"It's just... I mean it's so overwhelming. She's going to finish up school, she's almost got enough credits to graduate and she can make up the rest before she has the baby and then she's going to stay home with it. But man, a baby. I just, I know I should feel bad that we're doing this so young but I just can't bring myself to feel anything less than joyous."

I listened intently, letting the happiness of my wolf wash over me with a tiny grin on my face. "That's awesome man! Guess you better make an honest woman out of her now huh?" I nudged him with a teasing smile.

He just gave me a knowing smirk and we both turned to the sound of Jake stepping out of the forest.

"You guys done or should I run around the block again?" Jake shouted across to us with a lazy grin.

Jared spoke up. "Nah man it's cool. I was just telling Em my news. I'm gonna be a dad! Fuck I probably shouldn't have said anything without Kim here. Oh man she's gonna kill me." He looked mildly upset at the prospect before that huge grin replaced the frown on his face once again. "Oh I can't even be sad about it. I'm having a kid!" He blabbered it all out like he hadn't even thought about what he was saying.

Jake looked surprised but then went and patted Jared on the back with a short "congratulations man!" wearing his trademark sunshine smile.

We stood around, enjoying some good news for a change before the elders stepped back out and took their places at the bench. The mood changed instantly and we silently took our place before them in formation, a sign of unity.

Nobody spoke. I assumed they were going for a dramatic effect, hoping to intimidate me. Unfortunately for them it didn't work. I stood just a little taller, a little prouder and Billy spoke.

"The council has ruled that from here on out we are to be kept in the loop with any and all pack business. Furthermore, the pack is not to take action against any threats, be it within the pack or outside of it, without the express permission of the entire council. This ruling is final."

I heard Jared's jaw drop behind me and Jake began to argue but I held my hand up, effectively cutting off anything he was going to say. I was livid. This was not only overbearing and controlling but plain fucking dangerous. They were playing with fire and they were about to get burned.

"How fucking dare you! You're endangering all of our lives! And I don't just mean the pack! This puts the tribe at risk too! There's no fucking point in us running patrols if we can't even kill a stray vamp should we happen across one! How long will it take to get the council together to decide if we can eliminate the threat to the tribe? I'll tell you how long. Too fucking long! We'll all be dead by the time you've even got the message! What the fuck are you thinking?!" I snarled at them, growls interspersing my angry words.

"Embry, you have maimed one of your pack brothers. Your previous alpha no less. The council cannot simply allow you to punish and torture people as you see fit. Until we can trust you to lead this pack, we will have the last say on how the pack operates."

Like hell. I'm alpha. These wolves don't take orders from anyone but me. And I don't take orders from a group of decrepit old fools trying to relive the glory days they wish they'd had!

"Look here." I commanded while pinning Billy with my stare. I knew he was the one to attack. "These wolves run by my orders and nobody else's. Sam may have caved to your every decision, but I refuse. Sam has lost his fucking mind! He's bat shit crazy! He doesn't rule here anymore. I do. And I will not be ordered around by a group of old people who just want to manipulate us for their own goods and use us to live out their fantasies of being a part of the supernatural world." I would always do what was best for my pack first and foremost regardless of their "rulings", of this I was sure. I was no brainless zombie that followed their word without a question.

Jake stepped forward to have his say and I let him. "Not one of you knows the pain of the phase. The cracking and relocation of every bone, organ and vessel in your body. You don't know what it is to fight your nature each and every moment of the day, to fight to retain your humanity, or some small semblance of sanity. You have no idea the pain of seeing your brother lose his mind, first hand, and wanting to throw your own sanity away with his. You can't grasp that even though we have to spend half our time running through the forest on four paws, we still have to live a human life, provide for our families, go to school, hold down a job. You've never stared someone in the eye before ripping their head from their body and burning the pieces and then stayed up all night tossing and turning because even though you know you did the right thing, that was once somebody's brother or sister, son or daughter. You can't possibly comprehend the fucked up pull to be here, so strong that even if we _were_ allowed to leave, we couldn't, because our wolves will always pull us back. So when you've stopped trying to live the legends vicariously through us, how about showing a bit of fucking support for your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews who got landed with this piece of shit fucking curse!"

Billy gasped. "Jacob! How dare you! This is a gift from the gods! You disrespect them, calling your blessing a curse!"

Jake began to shake with the rage at his, our, father. I sent him some calming thoughts and soon the tremors came to a halt. I stepped forward.

"You understand nothing! And until you do, this pack takes your opinion very lightly. You will have no say in the operation of this pack unless we decide you are looking out for the best interests of the pack and the tribe. That is _our_ final say on the matter." I held my head high as I refused the tribal elders, something we were always taught never to do.

"You dare to defy your elders, boy?" Old Quil growled at me.

I growled back. A great rumbling noise, originating from the pit of my stomach, working its way through my chest and finally releasing itself in a roar from my mouth. "My elders? You aren't my elders! I have no allegiance to this council. I'm not one of you remember? I'm not a member of this tribe. You branded me with this tattoo, this dead weight of duty and responsibility, but not a single fucking one of you claimed me! You forced this curse on me, but still I'm not enough for this tribe to take me as one of their own. So unless somebody wants to claim me and induct me in, then your rule has no swing with this pack!" I neglected to mention that even if they did officially take me into the tribe I would always put my pack before them. I was so worked up at this point that I wanted to get each and every council member at that bench as angry as I already was so I stepped closer to them and stared each of them in the eyes in turn.

"So, anyone want to claim me? Huh? No I didn't think so.." I began as I slowly moved my way along the bench. "A Clearwater maybe?" I said as I stepped to Sue. I knew who my father was but I wanted to fuck with his head the way he'd been fucking with mine my entire life. "How bout it Sue? Is Harry my father? No?" I continued along the line. "A Uley then?" I asked, staring Jared and Sam's grandfather in the eyes. He shook his head at me. "No? Joshua didn't hit it and quit it on my mom huh? Then maybe it was an Ateara.." I intoned as I moved along to old Quil. "Tell me, am I your grandson?" He stared me point blank in the eye, no sign of any knowledge or emotion. Finally I moved right up to Billy. I leaned down and whispered in his ear. "Or am I a Black? Was it you Billy? Did you raise me like your own because I was? Huh? Answer me."

When I pulled away, he looked at me, his face a blank canvas, he showed nothing. Then he broke, a pleading look filtered its way into his eyes, pity marring his face as he began to speak. "Son, let me explain-"

"No!" I cut him off. "You've had 17 goddam years to explain Billy! You watched me grow! You watched me pine for my father all my life! And you sat around and pretended to care about me! Did you think it would never come out? Huh? I mean before I went wolf... Well I get why you kept quiet. But after, you knew I'd wonder! And you knew I was the one! I'm the heir! You knew I'd be alpha one day! And you never fucking warned me! Not a single word of warning! So no. You don't get to fucking talk now! Now you get to listen. And all of you listen hard. We do things our way from now on. The pack is now self run. If we want your advice or knowledge or opinions, we will seek you out. That is the end of that." I stepped back into formation with the two of my pack that were present.

Billy gazed down at me one more time. "Embry, please, hear me out." He pleaded. I simply turned and walked away, knowing Jared was on my tail. If Billy wanted to talk to me about it he could damn well come and find me once I'd calmed down. Having failed with me, he turned to Jake. "Jacob..."

But Jake cut him off. "No dad! How could you! He's my best friend and my brother! And you... You disgust me." He spat and turned to follow me.

Once we hit the tree line, we all pulled out clothes from our bodies and phased. The sky was black now, dotted with speck of light, and we made our way back towards my house under the cover of darkness. We replayed the meeting, all of it, for the rest of the pack to see as we made our way home. There was some whooping from Quil and I felt Paul's surprised admiration and his respect for me grew. He sent me a quick "you've got some balls, Call", practically the height of praise coming from Paul and I chuckled a little. It came out as more of a weird coughing sound in my wolf form but I enjoyed the short burst of joy anyway.

As we entered the stretch of forest at the back of my house, I called out for everyone but Jake to head home and get some rest. I knew we were all tired and had been missing out on a lot of sleep over the last few days so I decided to cut patrols back to a one man gig while we all caught up on some sleep. After everyone had phased out, I decided to see if Jake was ok after the confrontation with Billy.

"Hey Jake man, you alright?" I asked tentatively.

"Yeah bro. I just, I thought I knew him so well. And it turns out I don't know him at all. It's just a little bit shitty really. But I'm cool."

"Yeah... Thanks man. For what you said to him. Sticking up for me."

"Not a problem man."

I smiled in my wolf form. "How do you feel about taking the next couple of hours patrol? You up to it or..." I trailed off. I needed to pick up a patrol but I wanted to check on Leah first and tell her about the imprint, hopefully work something out between us.

"Sure man. Head on in. I'm good for the next couple of hours. Go get your girl."

I smiled, letting my tongue hang out of my mouth, and headed towards the house. "Thanks Jay."

I phased out and got dressed and braced myself to tell Leah about the imprint. It was time she knew.


End file.
